


Let's go Viral

by Ayzis



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Comedy, Drama, Humour, M/M, Roommates, YouTube
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-03
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-03-10 08:39:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3284021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ayzis/pseuds/Ayzis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'hawkeye10' is a prosperous YouTube channel hosted by a twenty year old university student, Takao Kazunari, who happens to have moved into an apartment with his closest friend, Midorima Shintaro.<br/>His roommate ought to unwillingly participate in Takao's film-making process and put up with his humiliating pranks along the way.<br/>What Midorima doesn't know is that Takao has had ripening feelings for him since they finished school, and that he's living under one roof with the one who wants the two of them under the same sheets.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Handicraft and surreptitious confessions

**Author's Note:**

> [PLEASE CONSIDER] Greetings, people of Ao3! This is my first submission and I'm hell of anxious. I soothsay some of you may deplore this work, especially since I'm not fluent in English yet (not as fluent as I'd love to be) TuT I've been enriching my vocabulary and general writing skills since I started writing a year ago, although I've been studying English for 6 years now, so fear not! I'm not here to abuse English grammar.
> 
> If you see any major errors, or even the minor ones that bother you, please let me know, and I'd also like to know your opinion about my first canon pairing (canon in my dreams) fan fiction!
> 
> I hope you enjoy your stay. Thanks for reading and have an amazing day!

"Ready?" His solemn voice rang across the pitch blackness, growing higher with each note. He took his palm off the camera lens, exposing it to the light of day. The recording device was so close to his face, that one could see each of the tiny hairs on his chin, and his synchronized breaths misted the lens with condensation.

With a small step back, his whole head fitted in the frame, his hands still trying to balance the camera on the pedestal of books and boxes he's built. Surely, his handmade recording station was not on a par with an actual tripod, but there was no way around; it was waiting to be found in one of the many sealed boxes.

"Sooo, here we are. Welcome to Takao Kazunari's new apartment!" The crow-haired male glided his arm vertically, gesturing to the empty space behind him.

"We have only arrived here this morning, and so has our stuff, so it's not furnished at all." Takao rubbed his jaw, feeling the prickly facial hair which he had had no time to remove.

With exams at his doorstep, he had been forced to rush his belongings out of his parents' house and have them transferred to his new apartment within a week altogether, which meant no spare window for shaving, rehearsing notes instead of playing mobile apps on the toilet, three hours of sleep every night, including a one hour power nap during lunch, and other sacrifices he had to make because someone didn't have the patience to move after exams were over.

Takao knew he had his reasons, knew the very roots of the problem, so he avoided bringing the subject up.

"I know I keep saying 'our', and nope, I don't have a split personality. From today on, I'll be living with a roommate!" Announced Takao, stretching a wide grin.

In his twenty years of life, it was the first time he'd moved to live an independent life and share a flat with a roommate. He was utmost excited about arranging his own room and settling down in a new to him city, and a completely unfamiliar atmosphere.

"I'll be living together with my old friend, Shin-chan!" His eyes flickered as he pronounced the name his subscribers had heard so many times before.

Midorima Shintaro has been mentioned in almost every of Takao's videos since he started his channel --- hawkeye10 --- in high school. At that time, the content found on his YouTube channel was mainly him practicing basketball with Midorima and doing back flips, but as time passed, he found himself eager to talk to those behind the screen who viewed him. There was no doubt that a good-looking lad like Takao, who also had an exceptionally frisky personality, would soon create a decent fan base, and as seasons started to shift outside the window, it only kept expanding.

It took 'hawkeye10' four years to become a well-known channel with over 900,000 subscribers and a total of 261 uploaded videos. He had loyal viewers whom he cherished like a part of his family; he told them everything, got out of his own way to somehow keep in touch with them.

"We're not friends!" A distant voice echoed in the room where Takao was recording, and a green-haired male with a tall posture walked past his roommate, carrying a box labeled 'lucky items' in his hands.

Takao let out a quiet laughter. His mesmerizing blue orbs followed Midorima out of the range of his sight. His regard lay upon the lens again, and with a nonchalant shrug, he enunciated,

"You heard him."

He had once done a room tour, and has wanted to do another one ever since, although he realized that it'd take at least a month for them to arrange everything; there were dozens of boxes to unpack, a lot of shopping to do, furniture to build. In all honesty, it was not appealing to both Midorima and Takao the slightest, and as much as they wished to put everything nicely, they wanted to get it done sooner.

"Exams are nearly over, so I'll be able to post quality videos rather than those vlog thingies. Stay tuned!" Takao winked before he placed the lid over the lens, hence ending the video. That was the one and only adieu he had ever used on his channel. Even when collaborating with other YouTubers from Japan, he was always allowed to perform his signature ending.

The tiny red bulb on the camera dimmed, notifying that it has stopped recording. Whilst removing the pedestal he'd built, Takao was thinking of how long it would take him to edit the short footage, speaking nothing of having to find his laptop first.

At the very bottom of the pedestal, there laid a box labeled 'memory capsule'. It was Midorima's, no matter how uncharacteristic it was for him to name something so simple-mindedly. Out of the two of them, only Midorima had had the time to organize his stuff inside the packages and even tag them, and Takao --- very much to his own pity --- had only been able to shove everything he could fit into the suitcases and boxes, then toss them into the van and wait for their delivery.

And now, he was to struggle with the turmoil he'd sealed shut inside the containers. He was not keen on the idea of doing so.

The blue-eyed lad carried the 'memory capsule' box toward Midorima's room, and he started to have second thoughts when he caught a glimpse of an utility knife resting on the windowsill. Curiosity killed the cat, and Takao was very likely to be victimized next.

"I've been looking for that." Midorima's voice filled the air, thrusting the youth out of Takao. The shorter male froze in spot, feeling his hands loosen the hold of Midorima's package. He was easily startled at time like this; subconsciously, he had already dealt with the current state of affairs in the coolest way possible. In reality, however, he was still lingering in front of the bespectacled roommate of his with a distraught look in his widened orbs.

"...Are you retarded?" Midorima pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, popping a vein on the side of his forehead. He no longer wore bandages around his fingers, what often left Takao blankly gazing at Midorima's bare hand for a couple of minutes before he'd be snapped out of his daze.

The long, slim fingers of the forest-green-haired man tempted one to link them with their own, leave ardent kisses all over his skin. Takao'd deceive you if he said he's never had those kind of ideas crawling into the back of his mind, but never would he confess his guilty desires to anyone --- not even his precious YouTube family.

Wordlessly, Takao handed the box to Midorima and darted up the stairs, into his bedroom where most of his things had already been loaded.

Midorima found his behaviour bizarre, although it wasn't the first time he caught his pal acting oddly; it felt like Takao was trying someone else's skin on. Maybe it was the awareness of Midorima's juicy little secret gnawing on his spine, but how could something as vague be so influential? Midorima couldn't put his finger on it.

The mess inside Takao's head had nothing on the jumble reigning in their apartment at that moment, and thoughts like squeezing his roommate's hand soothingly were better off put aside. For that, Takao chose to dive head first into his laptop and inform his viewers that he was close to being done moving, to thank them for waiting patiently, too.

His roommate, in the meantime, was hovering over now ripped-open 'memory capsule', inside of which lied photographs, certificates and prizes he had pooled together in the memory of his disassembled basketball club. There was plenty of Takao, for they used to be Shutoku's light and shadow --- with Takao being a shadow, strangely. Midorima always thought that a person like him was meant to be the light, a torch in the night, the only ray of sun fighting its way down to earth through the thick, wicked clouds. He was always in high spirits, passing them like a flu to the people around him.

Midorima cracked a faint smile in the corner of his mouth as he picked up a photo taken back in middle school. The Generation of Miracles had once been the group of geniuses known throughout whole Japan until they broke up to follow different paths.

Not long before he'd put it down, he heard a loud bang coming from Takao's room, followed by agonized groans. Hammered the nail a basketball casually plopping down the staircase as it rolled to touch Midorima's shoes. Assuming that Takao had once again broken something --- maybe a bone, maybe a lamp --- Midorima rushed to his roommate's aid.

"It's barely been two hours since we arrived here, nanodayo." The green-eyed male let a heavy breath out, shaking his head lightly as his regard fell upon Takao. He had curled up into a ball, clutching his pained ankle.

"Sheesh, Shin-chan!" Takao uttered through gritted teeth, forcing a weak grin.

"I tried to do a back flip here, but tripped over something." He explained, sitting up slowly against the soft carpet. It reminded him of the long evenings spent practicing with Midorima, when he could no longer stand, when ache found nest in his bones and hours seemed to elapse like centuries. Back then, his only concern was how much more pain he'd have to cope with, for he was to push the pedals on way back home, too.

Takao had never got rid of that bike, as of a precious reminder of what he had been through. Riding a ramshackle bicycle with a man good deal taller than himself seated in a cart attached to the back of it toned his muscles to the point he thought they'd sever.

Sometimes Takao found himself wondering if he was trying to become stronger and overcome Midorima, --- what was his first intention --- or to spend more time in the company of the bespectacled boy. Soon the true reason revealed itself, by the time it happened, they had already created an unbreakable bond.

"Well, didn't it happen because you're stupid." Midorima disparaged, cocking a brow. He crouched to pick up objects that fell out of the box Takao had knocked over, and that were now scattered across the floor.

The crow-haired man shrugged Midorima's toothless offense off, massaging his sore spots.

"I like this place." He chanted softly, canopying his eyes halfway. There was silence of concord hung between them before Midorima came up with another diatribe regarding their new home.

The pain in Takao's limbs started to retreat. He had completely forgotten about it when he fixed his eyes on Midorima; under the soft rays of sun leaking through the curtains, he looked like an angel at peace. His long eyelashes extended when he bowed his head, hence his reading glasses managed to slip down his nose, and as he raised his head to tuck them in place, Takao averted his eyes.

Anxiety crept into him, dragging a shiver throughout his body from the very tips of his toes up to the crown of his head. What had Takao got himself into..

He wished he had never realized how delicate his friend's features were, and how his overall posture had refined throughout the years, because he looked to have developed a superfluous attachment to Midorima Shintaro. Something that no longer fitted into the borders of attraction for a friend. Takao hoped that it was just another wrecked phase of life.

Shaking the thoughts out of his head, Takao hopped off the floor and returned to unpacking. There was still a lot to do before he'd be able to regard that apartment as home. His room was spacious, with one big window looking out onto the street, thus Takao's room was quite noisy, but he couldn't deny being fond of hearing cars and voices behind the walls. It soothed him in a special way.

Midorima's room was right across from Takao's, separated by a single storeroom. Unlike Takao's room, --- where the sunbeams entered and left as they pleased, --- Midorima's room was a pit of gloom. The only window was looking out onto a trashed alley, and no noise could be heard from the street. It was all Midorima had wanted, anyway. He had just enough light coming into his room so he could read, and not enough to irritate his eyes in the morning.

It wasn't difficult for them to define which room they'd be inhabiting, they solved it using a basic game of rock, paper, scissors and never questioned it twice. Both sides were satisfied, aware that in any other way, they'd still have come to the same decision.

Having seen the contents of the box he happened to open first, Takao gave up. It was a miserable mixture of everything that could have been found on one of the shelves in Takao's former residence; books, figures, utensils with no apparent purpose, etc.

"Shin-chan, can I borrow your laptop?"

~~

It was approximately seven in the evening when Takao and Midorima finally succeeded to build one of the chairs they had ordered from Ikea, what cost them buckets of sweat, bruised fingers and nearly their friendship (whenever the other one'd do something wrong).  
"That's a solid one!" Takao exclaimed, running the long sleeve of his shirt across his forehead. The first piece of furniture he had built by himself was now stood in front of his eyes, fully assembled and in it's blinding grandeur.

Midorima looked at the clock in terror. The arrows showed quarter past seven, and it had currently been two and a half hours since they started building the first chair. It would've been different if Takao hadn't shunned the manual, 'but I'm building a chair, not an engine', he had said and tossed the instructions over his shoulder.

The doorbell rang, and the two turned their heads simultaneously. They barely knew anyone in the city and weren't expecting any guests at all, no wonder the posture standing at their porch alarmed them in a way.

"Shin-chan, open the door, will you?" Takao said almost in a whisper. Sweat was beading on the side of his face and he curved his lips into a sinuous smile.

Midorima flinched, giving his roommate a cross glare. The thick lens of his glasses caught the light so that Takao could only see the deep scowl present on his face, while his ablaze eyes were concealed behind the spectacles.

"You're an adult! Stand up and open it yourself.." He grumbled in a surprisingly quiet voice. He pretended not to be bothered by the strain travelling down his body, but the truth was, Takao's dread might have influenced him as well.

The doorbell rang again, this time --- repeatedly, leaving Takao no choice but to approach the entrance. He trudged toward the metal door and carelessly dumped his hand on the handle, not bothering to peer through the peephole. He retreated to the side, and as the lock flicked, he swung the door open.

On their porch stood humbly and ever so merrily a short gal whose locks of pink mane were stretching down to her hips. She was dressed in overall shorts with a blue and white striped shirt underneath it and an oversized zip-up hoodie over her casual outfit.

"Good evening, neighbours." Her voice flowed like a splendid symphony through her peach lips.

"Momoi-san?" Takao questioned, surprise written all over his features. The girl stepped inside, stealing curious glances from both of the men.

"Takao-kun, Midorin." She enthused, gasping at whatever she could throw her eyes on; basically, the plain walls and sealed boxes.

"Did you say 'neighbours'?" Midorima cocked a thin brow, at the same time gesturing Takao to sit her on the chair they'd just built. So far, it was the only decent piece of furniture in the house. They dragged a couple of bigger boxes near the handcrafted chair and carefully leaned on them.

"Looks like you haven't done much yet." Momoi said and claimed the seat they'd purposed for her.

It was a split second later when both Midorima and Takao noticed the misplaced screw, which was sticking out of the side seat rail. It wasn't even supposed to be seen, yet theirs was done so poorly that it kept crumbling the wood as it push its way out.

"And yes, neighbours! I live in this block too. I'm in apartment number 36, three floors under." Momoi informed, linking her fingers together.

The apartment Midorima and Takao rented was situated on the seventh floor, for it was a lucky number, and the number of the flat was 43. Not the 77 from the green-haired male's dreams, but 4 plus 3 equals 7, so he was satisfied.

Without another word, both of them hopped off the boxes and plummeted onto knees on the sides of the chair, each holding a leg and a stile. If they hadn't noticed the error they'd made, the erratic chair would already have folded beneath Momoi.

"Huh?" The perplexed girl clapped her lashes rapidly, worriedly watching the two of her friends let out a sigh of relief. She stood up, and they released their hold, thus letting the chair collapse.

"You guys need help with this, don't you?" The pink-eyed gal bent her brows, laughing somewhat pitifully.

"Oha Asa says that scorpio needs some sleep today." Takao stated, stretching his shoulders as a huge yawn left his mouth.

"You're the loath person here, it has nothing to do with your horoscope, nanodayo." Midorima defended, feeling utterly insulted on the behalf of his precious horoscopes.

"By the way, Momoi-san, congratulations on hitting two million subscribers!" Takao enunciated wholeheartedly. He was fond of Momoi's videos, although her channel, xXpinkcherryXx, was mainly a beauty blog, she had dozens of collaborations with different eminent people all over the world.

"Thanks! You're close to your first million, too." She tilted her head to the side. "Once you're done moving in, how about we shoot a collab video?" Suggested Momoi, watching Takao's eyes catch flame.

A lively grin grew on his lips immediately, sleepiness dusted off his face. Rarely had he grasped an opportunity like this, yet alone served on a silver dish. One of the big YouTubers lived a few steps down the stairs.

"Remind me to leave whenever that happens." Midorima was looking dejected. The reason was most likely his being the victim of Takao's mediocre and unnecessarily vicious pranks. Back in Shutoku, Takao was said to have smashed Midorima's lucky items to pieces just for the sake of provoking him, and even after four years, he didn't seem to have grown out of habit of teasing his roommate.

"How about we ask people on twitter what they'd like us to do?" Takao voiced his thought whilst leering at Midorima; he knew exactly what he and Momoi would be recording and it thrilled him to the bone.


	2. New (old) friends and successful prank

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Boys are finally done moving in, and so Takao seizes the opportunity to play a very simple prank on his roommate. Momoi's involved too. Apart from that, Takao meets 'eagle eye' and makes a friend (?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me quite a while, I know. I apologize ;w; I really hope you'll like this chapter! Feedback is appreciated greatly, I'd love to know your opinion about this chapter and what you'd love to see in next ^^  
> Thanks for reading and have an amazing day!  
> ~Ayzis

A couple of weeks had passed since they started to arrange the furniture and their other stuff inside the new apartment, giving it a very peculiar touch. There were a couple of basketball rings in the house that Takao had set up with a specific purpose and importance;

One was in the toilet in case he'd forget to bring his phone, and another one in his room, right above the bin so he could toss his waste into it through the hoop. He thought it was a great idea until he left a big, fat stain of soda on the wall. Since then, he considered throwing litter and only litter into the ring.

Hardly had Takao spoken a word to Midorima during the last fortnight they spent making their apartment look like a home, even when they were so close to being done, and Midorima nearly revealed one of his rare, sincere smiles --- Takao still said nothing besides a reluctant 'hooray'.

An inability to keep the things that excited him a secret must've been the reason Takao avoided talking to his roommate. He had to press his tongue hard until it bled, simply not to blurt out the collaboration video idea, he didn't want Midorima to know what he and Momoi were to do.

Sometimes Midorima would find Takao sneaking out of the apartment, yet he'd always return half an hour later with a thing or two from the nearest craft store. It happened repeatedly on a daily basis, and finally, when Takao was about to leave for the second time in a day, Midorima snapped out.

"How about you make a list and then go out shopping?!" His voice came out a little louder than he expected, so he breathed his frustration out and turned away. "Whatever." He muttered additionally, making Takao snicker under his breath.

"Maybe Shin-chan's right." He told himself on his way to the store, looking around as if in search of a place to go. The only reason he left and entered the house over and over again was to occupy and thereby prevent himself from saying too much to Midorima.

"Moving in is so much work." Takao bent his eyebrows, slowing his pace as he walked past a parked car.

He approached the darkened window and brought his face close to the glass in which he saw his own reflection. He messed with his hair for a bit before he looked into his fatigued eyes. Sleepless nights were starting to rub off on him.

"What adult life does to you." He enunciated, letting out a small yawn, when suddenly the window of the car he'd been staring at rolled down and a man with narrow, pitch black eyes poked his head out from behind of it.

"What's up, sleeping beauty?" He asked with an amused grin stuck to his face.

Takao whipped his head back, taking tiny, rushed steps away from the car until he nearly flipped over.

"He-eey," he sang. Half embarrassed, half perplexed by the cheery attitude of the stranger that caught him in one of the most humiliating moments of his life.

"You're the third stranger to walk up to me. I guess I'm just oddly magnetic today."

"Uh, sure. Bye~" Takao hoped he'd excuse himself out of the mortifying atmosphere without any blood spilling, but the man in the car just wouldn't let go.

"Hold up!" He called, walking out of the car to reveal his rather average posture. He was about the same height as Takao, had somewhat long hair that fell unevenly on the sides and the back of his head. His eyes were so dark, that one could hardly tell his irises apart from his pupils.

"I haven't seen you around here before." The stranger said and out of the blue, he produced a rectangular piece of plastic from his pocket and tossed it to Takao.

The blue-eyed lad winced, but didn't fail to catch the object. It fell perfectly into the hold of his hands.

_'If we had been playing basketball, he would have made a really good point guard.'_ Takao thought, unable to wash the smile off his lips.

"Did you catch it?"

"What?" Takao was taken aback. Didn't he just master that pass in front of the inky-eyed man's eyes?

"My name. Did you catch it?"

Only then did Kazunari glance down at the object he'd been holding. It had a sticker on it that said 'Izuki Shun' in black over white.

"What the hell?" The blue-eyed male couldn't help asking.

Takao was the type of a person who made friends very easily and under any circumstances. Somehow Izuki seemed the same, but there was something about him that made Takao want to dart back home and never look in his direction anymore.

"So are you going to the store again? Because you don't seem to be _buying_ what I say." Izuki blurted yet another pun, blankly gazing into the metallic depth of Takao's orbs.

Oh, that's what made Takao feel strange in the gut.

Ignoring the failed attempt of Izuki to pun, (or to flirt, Takao couldn't guess) he cocked a brow, growing a faint smile in the corner of his mouth.

_'Is he maybe a subscriber of mine? Or is he a stalker?'_ Both options seemed equally possible.

"Again? So it's not really the first time you see me." Although he was a bit alarmed about why Izuki would casually sit in his car all day and watch the pedestrians stride up and down the rather empty street, he assumed that there might be a more sensible explanation to that. He kind of wanted to know, but he kind of didn't.

"I saw you a couple of hours ago when I was on my way to the gym." Izuki explained, holding up his index finger.

"I thought it wasn't _working out_ for you with girls and you just sat there ogling by-passers." Takao seized the chance to use Izuki's weapon against him.

"Gym.. Working out.. That's a good one!" Izuki gasped and hurriedly pulled a small note pad out of the back pocket of his jeans, along with a pen, and started to write something down.

_'He hasn't run away yet. That's new.'_ Izuki proclaimed inside his head, stealing a peek at his new acquaintance through his lashes as he kept recording the pun Takao had just come up with.

"You know my name." Izuki remarked, now putting the agenda away.

"I guess so." Takao shrugged.

"Aren't you going to tell me yours?" The look in Shun's oculars made it even harder to not introduce oneself. But he hadn't introduced himself properly, either.

"Give me that pen." Takao sighed, sticking his hand out.

Izuki handed it over merrily, then watched Takao ink his name on the other man's palm.

"Kazunari Takao." Izuki read out loud, though struggled to put his palm upside down, slightly cringing at the way Takao had written his name - as if he had given Izuki an autograph. "Hey," something shifted within him upon seeing the name.

"Aren't you the hawk eye guy from Shutoku?"

"Used to be." Takao's grin first banished, then appeared again, even wider than usual. The least he could wish was for someone to recognize him for basketball achievements and not his YouTube productivity, so he was utterly surprised to hear his old nickname which his teammates had once given him.

"How'd you know?" The surprised guy pried.

"I used to play in Seirin. They called me eagle eye." Izuki recalled with a tint of moroseness in both his voice and smile.

"We never played against Seirin, tho. And, I've really got to go." Takao scratched the back of his head, gesturing to the enormous market behind him.

"See ya around then, Takao Kazunari!" Izuki's enthusiasm looked to be blinding, only for the few couple of seconds, however. It was smouldering, but not yet going up in flames.

~~

Takao's uncharacteristic hush started to startle Midorima as much as it irritated him. During the breakfast, the sound of a spoon touching the cereal bowl rang so boisterously inside his eardrums, that he thought they would burst.

Takao being that quiet was wrong in so many ways.

Having drained up hopes to hear anything, literally anything but the crunching of breakfast in his own mouth, Midorima slammed the tableware flat on the table and pushed his chair back.

Takao ducked his head in fear, his regard stuck to his roommate's back leaving the kitchen.

"Shin-chan?" He asked in a somewhat shaky voice, assuming that Midorima was offended by something. Was it Takao's chewing noises or the mess he'd always make when eating cereal that infuriated his roommate?

"Momoi's coming over to film tomorrow, right?" Midorima asked, masking his worry behind a monotonous voice. He knew it from the start he'd fall as a victim of another prank, but he wouldn't give in without a fight.

"Yeah. We're doing a question and answer video."

It must've been true. There was no way it wasn't true. Midorima may have been a seldom visitor of social media sites, but even he was aware of how both his roommate and Momoi had asked their viewers for questions that they'd love to be answered by the two of them. There was no way they were fooling thousands of people for the sake of pranking one Midorima.

There was a decent evidence, still Shintarou couldn't find peace. "Alright then." He brushed it off for the time being, meaning to concentrate on rehearsal for mid-term exams.

A devilish chuckle slipped through Takao's lips.

The following day was a Saturday. Weekend, when no bird was building a nest, when simply mentioning work could gain you a fistful of enemies. Midorima, however, was lost in the vast sea of knowledge, having his oculars glued to the textbook for several hours straight.

Takao'd always make fun of him for being a very disciplined student, but would be in no laughing condition when he'd have to stay up late to revise whilst his roommate was sleeping soundly with no concerns to hold him up.

To completely wash off the suspicion knocking on the back of his head and fully concentrate on studying, Shintaro decided to eavesdrop some of Takao and Momoi's conversation behind the shut door of Takao's room.

The green-haired man was satisfied with what he heard, for they had been answering goofy questions, which also meant that they were in the middle of recording a video.

Sighing in relief, he headed for his room, the complex mechanism of his mind had finally found concord.

Midorima pushed his chair back, readjusting his glasses as he returned to his precious textbooks, but as he scanned the desk, he wasn't pleased with what he saw - a mess. Midorima Shintaro was never the messy type; no dissonance was allowed inside the premises that'd been assigned to him.

He quickly removed the excess papers and books off his desk and laid them neatly inside his drawer, then he found a corner of a photo sticking out of one of the files. It was the family photo he hoped he had left behind.

There was a lot Midorima had to sort out with his family, especially with his little sister. It just wasn't the right time for it. He didn't bother to look at the photograph, he buried it under a pile of slim notebooks and slammed the drawer shut after.  
He resumed writing. Suddenly, something clicked within him, making the tip of his pencil freeze over the unfinished line.

_'When Takao collaborates with other YouTubers, they make two videos. One for each channel. What are they going to do besides the Q &A?'_ He felt sweat beading on the side of his forehead as he swallowed hard, afraid that he might be distracted again.

That's why he thought he'd make an escape. He ungracefully dumped his belongings into a rucksack and slung it over his shoulder, about to leave for the local library. Inches away from the staircase leading down to the living room, Midorima heard the door to Takao's bedroom creak. Through the small gap, he could see Momoi dismissively waving at his crow-haired roommate.

"I'll be right back, just let me fix my make-up." The pink-haired girl vowed, stepping out of the room. Her face became doused with worry as soon as she laid her eyes on the about-to-leave Midorima.

"Midorin!" She called in a whisper, running up to the bespectacled man, not having shut the door to the bedroom completely, so it was left hanging halfway open.

Taken aback, Shintaro took a step further from Momoi. "Did something go wrong?" He asked as he crooked a thin brow.

"It's Takao--- Midorin, please don't leave me alone with him!" Momoi's voice was low, there were pearls of tears twinkling in the corners of her eyes, and Midorima could feel his blood starting to boil. What did Takao do? Was that bastard somehow being disrespectful to Momoi?

Not waiting for the tall male to say anything, Momoi carried on, now averting her eyes as if she was too ashamed to face him. "We were recording the video and he... he... I saw him looking at my chest a couple of times, and then he started touching the back of my waist." The girl hung her head low, clinging to the folds of Midorima's shirt.

He was furious. His mind was fogged by the very thought of his roommate mistreating an involved friend of his. Had Takao lost all shame? Speaking nothing of dread of Momoi's boyfriend. Aomine wouldn't have left a living spot on Takao if he had found out.

Without a second thought, Midorima dropped his rucksack to the ground and stormed into Kazunari's room. He slammed the door open against a wall and burst in through the frame. He felt himself suffocating the second before he realized his feet had just kissed the floor goodbye.

Something felt hot and sticky on his face, whatever it was, it didn't let him take a breath in as his back hit the carpet. At this point, all Midorima could say for sure was that, one, he had been pranked, and two, there was clean food wrap stuck to his face.

And so he lay on his aching back, wishing he would sink into the floor. Humiliated. Mortified. And so angry.

"Midorin!" Momoi's voice rang in his ears, along with the muffled giggles that she tried so hard to conceal behind her lips, somehow it managed to reach his hearing even through the clarion laughter of Takao, who didn't bother to hold it back, even out of sympathy.

Midorima slowly reached to his face and ripped the wrap off it, clenching it angrily in his fist. Upon opening his eyes, he saw the pink-haired gal hovering over him with the lens of her phone pointed at him.

"That sounded very painful.." She managed to say between her quickened from laughing breaths.

"OH MY GOD!" Takao coughed up, holding his stomach in a secure embrace of his arms.

A couple of Minutes earlier, Takao had duct-taped food wrap to the sides of the door, right where he thought Midorima's face would go. The clear barrier was positioned so high, that Momoi merely walked under without touching it, what guaranteed success to their plan.

The victim had seen another person peacefully walk through the door, so there was no threat, or so he thought. Sadly for himself, Shintaro had been too busy being mad to think that he could fall into Takao's trap so foolishly. They had made up the harassment story to infuriate him and make him run face first into the wrap, and they definitely thrived to do so.

Momoi's great acting skills played an important role, she had basically done the whole job, and felt guilty about it now that she saw the pained expression of her green-haired friend. Midorima's epic fall was recorded from three different angles and they were all going to be featured in Takao's video. In high definition, and in slow motion, too.

Success, however, cost both Takao and Momoi quite a deal.

~~

"It's 10 in the morning, Saturday, Shin-chan is on his morning jog and doesn't know Momoi's here planning the prank with me." Takao's grin seemed to have occupied the whole screen.

"I'm going to pretend to have been 'mistreated' by Takao and hopefully, Midorin will react the way we expect him to." Momoi laughed softly, looking into the camera.

"He's going to ignore our existence for some time after this." Takao warned, being very careful with the words he picked, for they were all true.

"Eh? Even if we apologize?" Momoi's forehead wrinkled and a small frown appeared on her face.

"He'll be over it. I've done that countless of times." Takao reassured, patting the back of his neck.

"Sorry, Midorin!" Momoi put her hands together, squinting one eye as she ducked her head.

On that note, the video stopped and followed it the part where Momoi was leaving the room to 'fix her make-up'. She had left the door open purposely, so that Midorima wouldn't have to slow down to open it.

As soon as the bespectacled man strode towards the room, she produced her phone out of her pocket and started to record him from the back. They also had a camera facing the door to record Midorima from the front and another one in the hallway, giving them a view from the side.

Midorima's head had fallen behind his body as he walked into the stretched across the frame food wrap, making him plop down the floor on his back. His hands swung loosely, as if trying to grab onto something, but the collapse was inevitable.

Takao couldn't get enough of watching it.

"Seven hundred thousand views in 16 hours! Shin-chan, you're going to go viral!" He laughed, but Midorima kept pretending he hadn't heard anything.

Precisely like Takao had foreseen, his roommate first banned his and Momoi's existence from his memory, leaving Takao amused, Momoi - completely devastated.

"Midoriiin!" The girl whined, launching her fragile fists in the tall male's shoulder blades.

"It's useless, Momoi-san, leave him be." Takao laughed, waving her off.

Satsuki pouted, abandoning futile attempts to win Midorima's attention. She sat down on the couch across from Takao and folded her arms over her chest.

"I didn't know he'd be so upset." She muttered under her breath, bending her threaded eyebrows.

"I'm used to that." The bluish-eyed man shrugged nonchalantly.

Somewhere within, he found Midorima's behaviour challenging. He strangely enjoyed being overseen by him, but he enjoyed irritating him even more. He found himself wondering what would happen if he were to come up to Midorima and spontaneously link their fingers together, would that be left ignored, too?

A part of him genuinely wished it would, but besides being a sore splinter in the ass, Takao was a big coward, so he'd never know.


	3. Revenge is served chilled... and sweet

With exams stepping on his heels, Midorima had been giving studying more time than he had originally intended to, because the temporary exclusion of Takao's existence from his life gave him some time to do his revision and chores.

Takao was doing a good job letting his friend cool down. He hadn't bothered him during study hours at all, although he kept trying to make him speak up during the meals.

The day was drawing nearer to an end. Warm, orange beams of light filled the spacious living room, beautifying the silence that has been reigning in the air.

Having finished procrastinating (he was supposed to be devoting time to studying), Takao scooted down the stairs where he found his roommate snoring into a cushion as he had dosed off on the couch.

Midorima was lying on his stomach with his left limbs swinging off the edge of the couch. His glasses were resting on the side of the small coffee table, notifying Takao that Midorima was taking a scheduled nap. He must've been exhausted, no matter how disciplined he was, Midorima Shintaro was not a robot.

Takao's features softened, he carefully tiptoed to the center of the room, trying to make as little noise as possible. He knew his friend was very cautious even in his sleep; his eyes would open without a delay if any sound reached his ears.

Since the day before, Takao hadn't seen Midorima leaning on his back, and now he found him lying stomach down. A feeling of guilt ran through his body, making him feel tight in the chest.

He stood on one knee and carefully disposed his hands over Midorima's back, gently pressing his fingers onto his friend's shoulder blades. He started working his thumbs in a circular motion, soothing the irritating pain that had been ringing in Midorima's back for the past 24 hours.

The green-haired man fluttered his eyes open, turning his head to the side to peer at his housemate. His eye sockets, heavy with drowsiness, struggled to keep open.

"What are you doing?" He spoke into the cushion, rubbing the side of his head against it, as if trying to sweep the fatigue off of his face.

"Your back seems to hurt a lot since you fell yesterday." Takao smiled faintly, crooking his eyebrows, his hands now massaging the lower part of Midorima's back.

Only then did Shintaro remember that he was supposed to pretend Takao didn't exist, but every satisfied muscle of his back was screaming out Takao's name. There was a glimpse of relief and even pleasure each time a finger pressed a sore spot on his shoulder, and Midorima had to hold his groan back.

With a deep breath in, the green-eyed male declared, "It's not that bad."

"I'm not the medical student here, but even I can tell that you've neglected your injury."

"That's not an injury." Miorima barked, and suddenly Takao's hands left the surface of his shirt. Pain startd to crawl back into Midorima's muscles, and he unintentionally arched his spine to get rid of it.

"Then should I stop?" Takao's grin grew wider across his lips.

Midorima shivered, the hairs on his skin rose. He didn't know Takao could be so tender, nor did he know if he should be waiting for a surprise thrust in the spine, but as his friend resumed kneading the ache in his back, he soon relaxed, cracking a tiny smile in the corner of his mouth.

~~

Later during the evening, when Takao was long gone to borrow some notes from his university friends, Midorima was visited by a somewhat unexpected guest.

"Yo." The tall, tanned male stood at the door, having hidden both hands inside his pockets.

"Aomine?" Midorima cocked a brow, stepping aside to let his ex-schoolmate enter.

Sat in the living room in awkward silence, the two were looking straight into the dimmed TV screen, letting seconds stretch like centuries until one of them spoke up.

"Satsuki's made a mess again. huh?" Aomine's baritone rang to the echo, although he had been keeping it down. In the hush hung between them, it came out louder than usual.

"Takao's the one who dragged her into this." Midorima hurried to make it clear that he wasn't as upset with Satsuki as he was with his roommate.

"She's freaking out, and she's sorry." The blue-haired male scratched his nape, tilting his head to the side. The expression of his face remained deadpan, showing no particular emotion rather than apathy.

"And she sent you here to apologize for her?"

"No, but last night she came home crying because _'Midorin was mad at her'_ and wouldn't accept her apology." Aomine fought the urge to roll his eyes upon saying that. He outstretched his arms over the backrest of the couch and smirked cunningly.

"What's the point of ignoring them when you can instead prank them too?" He announced in a singsong voice.

"What makes you think I'd do something as reckless?!" Midorima snapped out, whipping his head to the side so that he faced the smirking physiognomy of his friend.

"Besides, why'd you suggest pranking your girlfriend?" He added, letting a weary breath out.

"I never said you should get revenge on Satsuki as well. I'm the only one who can prank her back."

"She's done that to you before?" Midorima readjusted his glasses. For the first time, the two of them had been seated in the same boat.

"More than I'd like to admit." Aomine frowned, laying his elbows on his knees. "Let the guy taste his own medicine, and record your revenge on camera too."

No word followed the single huff Midorima had let out. There was a ruthless battle going on inside of him; revenge was sweet, but wouldn't it only give Takao another reason to play more foolish jokes on him? Giving it another thought, messing with Midorima  _was_ what Takao did for a living and sooner or later, the worn out patience of Shintaro would have exhausted anyway.

All Aomine really did was boost an inevitable combustion reaction.

It took Midorima 26 minutes and thirty two seconds to come up with a couple of pranks that would definitely ruin Takao's day,  _and_ to go shopping for the props too.

Midorima had no video camera of his own, so he decided he'd adopt Takao's for a while. Because Takao knew each messy corner of his room like a drafted map, Midorima had to be extremely careful when sneaking inside. He attempted not to misplace any object within the four walls as he sought for the recording device.

It was difficult to judge whether Takao's chamber was sloppy or not. In Midorima's eyes, it was an erratic composite of well made bed and accurately organized shelves on the right side of the room, and a complete turmoil on the left side. He could have sworn there was a dirty sock floating in the round fish tank (saying nothing of the fact that Takao didn't own pet fish and still kept the bowl). The whole room resembled its occupant perfectly.

~~

"I've borrowed Takao's video camera and I am going to document my revenge prank." The sharp, emerald eyes looked into the lens before Midorima grabbed the recording device and turned it around, exposing the small kitchen area to the eye of the viewer.

"Here's Takao's drink, which he will definitely devour upon returning home, at maybe one a.m. in the morning." In front of Midorima, on the small kitchen table laid an uncapped bottle of coke.

Midorima could already foresee all the 'so that's what tall people see' comments, because every time he'd have to hold the camera (usually to record Takao doing another back flip), one couldn't miss the sudden change of perspective.

The cap laid upside down with a piece of mentos resting inside of it. Midorima had pierced it through using a needle with a short piece of lace attached to it. And as he put the cap back on, giving it a couple of twists, the lace got wrapped securely around the neck of the bottle.

"As soon as the cap is off, mentos will fall into the fizzy drink and someone will have to clean up the mess." Midorima explained the outcome of one of the many pranks he's planned for the day.

"Since Takao has his first exam tomorrow morning, I'm sure he'll go for at least a six hour sleep. Well, I wish him a good night." Never had Midorima sounded so callous before. From a rucksack of his, he pulled out four different alarm clocks which he had just bought.

They would ring Takao up at approximately 5 o'clock, with 5 minutes interval between each, and to top it off, Midorima would wake him up at 7:30 to get ready for university.

Lastly, the unexpectedly good prankster Midorima hid a camera with night vision setting on under the pile of clothes dumped on Takao's swivel chair. Hopefully, he wasn't planning to surf the internet the night before examinations.

As Shintaro had assumed, his housemate returned home at twenty minutes past midnight, not showing enough courtesy to at least  _try_ being quiet when there was a high chance of Midorima having gone to sleep by that time.

Hearing footsteps clatter somewhere in the living room, Midorima readjusted his glasses so that they caught light and obscured the view of his eyes. "It's time." He said to himself, producing his phone out of his pocket.

Through the lens of his phone, one could see him ungracefully dragging it towards the kitchen, and soon Takao's short posture appeared in the shot.

"Hey." The boy laughed, peering at his green-haired friend over his shoulder before looking inside the fridge. "Are you staying up tonight or something?"

"My first exam is the day after tomorrow." A monotonous voice responded.

"Ah, lucky you. I'm drained up." Takao complained, the bottle of cola now fixed in the hold of his hand. "Want some, Shin-chan?" He asked, grinning at the taller male.

"I'd rather have tea. And I would recommend you the same, Takao."

"Aw, can't let this coke go to waste!"

The sound of cap being untwisted seemed to slow down as Midorima's lips disobediently curved upwards. Takao looked his friend in the face half a second before a fizzy fountain erupted from the bottom of the bottle and went up his nostrils.

The crow-haired lad jerked his head back, holding the bottle away from his face as far as he could reach. The stream of cola that was stretching up to the ceiling a couple of seconds ago had now formed a huge puddle on the tiled floor of the kitchen.

Takao was speechless. He stood in the middle of the room, soaked in sticky, sugary liquid. His arms were open widely and so was his mouth, showing great surprise, awe, but mainly - amusement.

"So  _that's_  why you've been recording us all this while." Kazunari uttered through short, breathless attempts to laugh. He wasn't exactly supposed to know Midorima was recording.

"That's your payback. Enjoy cleaning this up." The excessive pride Shintaro was feeling at that moment would have given him a firm pat on the shoulder, if it had been a person.

"How the fuck did you even do that? Magic?" An astonished Takao quizzed, studying the 3/4 empty bottle in his hand. "Aw that sucks. I need a shower now. Good one, Shin-chan, a brilliant one." He rolled his bluish-silver orbs, striding past the bespectacled pal of his.

"You've got to mop the floor first." Midorima reminded, and Takao barked an aggressive 'I've got this!' in reply. It was probably the first time Takao was the one irritated with another, but little did he know that he'd wake up more upset with his housemate than he was then.

It was quarter to six in the morning when Takao came breaching Midorima's room. Stood in the frame of the door with arms disposed on his hips, he let out a heavy sigh. There was an endless chiming of different alarms busting his eardrums.

"Are you serious, Shin-chan?"

Midorima didn't answer, but hardly could he keep himself from smirking into the fabric of his pillow case. The satisfied smile vanished off his face as soon as he felt Takao dump himself on the small space of the bed he had left unoccupied.

"Fuck off!" He tried to kick the smaller man off his bedstead.

"I can't sleep in my room  _and_ I've got an exam tomorrow." Retorted Takao, curling into a ball. He was't as exasperated now that he found a way to 'return the favor'.

"Just find those alarm clocks and turn them off. It's as easy as that!" Midorima nearly yelled straight into Takao's ear, making him flinch as if he had been shot with jolts of electricity.

The crow-haired man growled, making a beeline out of the bedroom. He struggled to find the well-hidden clocks that kept ringing unbearably annoying tunes simultaneously. Not a slightest clue of where Midorima might have put them crossed his mind, for he had sought for a while.

Twenty minutes past six was when he finally succeeded to trace all the alarms and violently pull batteries out of each, after what he dossed off on the very edge of his bed in a pose that, according to Midorima, couldn't be comfortable in any way.

Little did Takao know that he'd be getting only a 3 - 3.5 hour sleep in 'chunks' before an important test that he was likely to fail due to lack of rest and sense of responsibility.

The clock on the wall struck half past seven and Midorima - up and ready to leave for a jog -peacefully poured a glass of icy water over Takao's head, snapping him out of sleep immediately.

"I hate you." Takao couldn't bring himself to raise his head, that's how fatigued he was from the night before. He wished he could once again seize an excuse to curl into Midorima's sheets, to nuzzle to his back, feel in the strong, distinctive odour that Shin-chan was giving off so naturally.

Takao liked the idea of receiving another peer's body heat, but had mixed feelings about smelling or simply going nearer than his senses allowed to go to his long time friend and housemate.

Going through a great struggle, he was finally able to lift his body from the luring softness of comforters and jumped into the first set of clean clothes that he found inside his closet. Having spent some time refreshing in the bathroom, he grabbed his cologne from the side of the sink and spontaneously sprayed it over his shirt when he noticed light blue stains that it was leaving behind.

Staring at the small, glass vessel for a few brief moments, he hung his head low over the sink, cussing under his breath.

"That  _bastard!_ "  _  
_

It took him less than a minute to understand that Midorima had mixed his cologne with blue dye, or maybe food coloring. Exiting the bathroom, completely freed of his ruined shirt, Takao made his way to his cohabitant's room.

"Again? Do you want me to put lock on this door?!" A vein showed up on the side of Midorima's face as he lowered the book he'd been reading.

Wordlessly, Takao tossed his ruined shirt in Midorima's face and proceeded towards his wardrobe. He swung the redwood doors open and recklessly ripped a clean shirt off one of the hangers. Midorima said nothing as he angrily threw Takao's piece of clothing to the side. He only eyed him, wearing a death glare, until the other male disappeared into the hallway.

"Tch." He clicked his tongue, recalling every single prank Takao had performed on him. How much more could he have bottled up? He was relieved to have  stood up for himself, but something felt misplaced. He wasn't quite satisfied. He knew he wanted Takao mad, furious to the point he'd start a fist fight, but being a civilized person he appeared to be on the outside, Midorima pushed those blunt desires into the back of his mind where they had no influence over his actions and sober way of thinking.

 

_'Great. I look like a smuf's thrown up on me_ and  _I'll have to sit through my exams in this ridiculously enormous shirt!'_ Takao complained inside his head, fiercely stomping the creaky floors of univeristy's corpus.

He entered a rather crowded lecture hall and claimed a seat in the far rear row. He stretched his legs and shoved his hands inside his pockets, letting himself drop into the seat.

"Shin-chan's not that easy at all." He mumbled to himself, studying anxiety-stained expressions of his fellow students. His eyes screamed boredom and a huge scowl on his face was giving off a hostile aura which made it difficult for other young adults to walk past without giving him a curious look.

"Shin-chan." Now wide-eyed Kazunari repeated, sitting upright. "I'm wearing Shin-chan's shirt." He felt blood rushing to his cheeks and embarrassment getting into him. What he did earlier in the morning was impulsive, never did he read into it on his way to class, but now that it hit him, he couldn't get his mind off of it.

Midorima Shinatro's shirt. A shirt that was owned and worn by Midorima Shintaro, and probably smelled like him, too. Fighting an urge to sniff the fabric of the oversized jacket was surreal and plainly worthless, that's why Takao found himself clutching the collar of the shirt with both of his hands in a somewhat alarming manner.

Last time he checked, he wasn't diagnosed with a shirt fetish. 'What _did I do to deserve this?'_ Thought the boy, sighing a hot breath into the inside of the shirt. Was it the sweltering afternoon heat suffocating him? He wanted to believe it was.

After few minutes of brewing all his thoughts and concerns in his head and constant twirling of pencil in his hand, Takao remembered that he was going to sit through a mid term exam in less than a quarter hour.

He shook his head heatedly, trying to make the material he'd been revising float up to the surface.  _'Right. The damned Geology.'_  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed reading chapter 3! ^w^ I love it for multiple reasons. Please let me know in the comments if you do too!  
> Some things in the next chapter will top this chapter off nicely, (video Shin-chan was recording, more interatcion between Aomine and Midorima). And I'm sure most of you recognized the "no sleep for roommate" prank :D  
> I'm also going to bring out a whole lot of other characters. I've got really interesting roles to suit each and I am suuure you're love them. Stay tuned! We'll have a party in the next chapter ^^ ya know, housewarming :3


	4. The Housewarming Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens at the housewarming party, stays at the housewarming party ..unless someone else's involved.  
> Meet more internet skittle-stars and what is up with Midorima's family?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi hi hi! I am so terribly sorry for being away for more than a month. I'm just an undergraduate with loads of stuff to do. I'm currently sick too ;w; HAPPY EASTER! Please let me know if you like this chapter :D it's my favourite one so far! I hope you find it entertaining! Thanks for reading and have a fabulous day!

Takao was on the same page with sitting through exams after a sleepless night, for it had happened countless of times before, but never had it been so upsetting; he had sacrificed his precious time under the sun to get a good, fulfilling slumber. Thanks to Midorima, he was rid of the only pleasure he had during the mid-term tests.

Having spilled all of his rage on the answer sheet, he felt a relief. Somehow, the anger he bottled up for Midorima used to always fade within a few hours. It was impossible for Takao to hold grudge at all. He was too busy being in high spirits to ever descend to the chasms of being miserable about a mere prank.

Midorima wasn't the type to sit back and wordlessly swallow Takao's mischief. He was a man with great pride, and sooner or later, Takao'd get what he deserved. But at the same time, Midorima had a great common sense which didn't allow him to lower himself to the prankster Takao's level. The crow-haired lad's devilry had been stuck in his throat for so long, that it was almost unbelievable how long it took him to grow some balls and flare out.

Inside the apartment number 43, at that very moment, were calmly chatting two formerly-teammates. They had watched the video montage of Takao being pranked about three times now, and Midorima couldn't help his lips curling upwards every time he saw the surprised and perplexed expression on his housemate's face.

With the help of Momoi, they made all the footage into a good montage. Satsuki was only trying to make up for that one time she helped Takao to trick Midorima, and much to the green-haired fellow's delight, she did a great editing job.

Aomine, who was sitting across from Midorima in an armchair, grinned cunningly, resting his chin over the palm of his hand. "Nicely done." He fixed his regard upon the TV screen.

Midorima tucked his glasses in place, exhaling slowly. "I'd rather not repeat that. Such foolish frolics take too much time, creativity ..and I didn't think that prank would have used up my wallet as well." Admitted the man, wondering if he could return all the alarm clocks to the shop.

"But it was worth it." Daiki shrugged, leaning on the backrest of the brand new furniture. It was Aomine who helped Midorima to build all the chairs after Takao was ordered to go nowhere near hammers and screws, and the two had somehow bonded during the handicraft experience.

Barely bringing up the past with Teiko, Midorima got to meet the new, mature Aomine, whose whole life circulated around his job, basketball and taking care of Momoi.

"I only hope that Takao won't do something blunt at our housewarming party."

~~

The Housewarming party was originally Takao's initiative, and he managed to invite  _all_ of their acquaintances sooner than Midorima managed to say no.

Ever since they were done moving in, Takao had been planning a small party, for the majority of people he invited would probably be too busy to make it and the rest were the kind of people Takao'd never had more than 5 minutes of interaction with.

"A  _small_ party, you said?" Aomine scoffed, leaning on the frame of the door as he watched his girlfriend chopping the goods into bite-sized snacks. Almost everyone who had accepted the invitation brought something to drink or to snack on, so Takao needed Momoi's help once again to keep up with the crowd.

Momoi nodded eagerly, smiling to herself. Her eyes first met Aomine's, then traveled across the room where dozens of people were chatting, eating, drinking and simply having the time of their life.

"Takao didn't count on everyone he had called to show up." The girl explained, crooking her eyebrows. "I think Midorin's angry again. There is so little space for everyone in the living room, that they've started to evade boys' rooms and the balcony."

"Takao's a dense one." Aomine shook his head, sighing heavily.

"Is this ready to go? Thanks, Momoi-san!" Speak of the devil.. Takao snatched the tray of snacks up as he rushed towards the center of the room. He coped up with the sudden flood of guests, pushing the thoughts about being broke and having the flat trashed to the back of his mind. What mattered at that moment was not letting  the apartment go up in flames and, of course, not disappointing the invitees.

Hanging out with mates from school and basketball clubs, Takao's eye soon caught a faint, deadpan boy standing at the windowsill by himself. The blue locks of his hair were gently rocked back and forth by the autumn breeze coming from the open window. Having recognized Kuroko, Takao hurried to greet him.

Not only was Kuroko Tetsuya a former teammate and a close friend of Midorima, but also a famous Vine celebrity. He was best known for his vines in which he  _unintentionally_ scared people in public transport by magically  _appearing_ next to them, when in reality he had been there first. Another successful series of 6 second long videos Kuroko made were all featuring his close friend - Kagami Taiga and his dog - Tetsuya Number Two, also known as Nigou, who never failed to make Kagami jump.

"Hey man!" Takao clapped on the shorter male's back, making him flinch momentarily.

Kuroko glanced at him over his shoulder, cracking a weak smile. "Good evening."

"Are you having a good time?" Takao wondered, noticing the wilting aura hung in the air around Kuroko.

"I just arrived, nobody has noticed my presence yet, except for you and Izuki." Kuroko clarified.

"Okay then, blend it, alright? But not  _that_ way." The host of the party laughed and strolled away, keeping an eye on every guest. He wanted no one to feel bored at the first big evening he had ever held.

For some reason, Kuroko's words kept circulating inside his head, there was something he wanted to cling to, but couldn't until the moment he repeated out loud what the phantom had said.

"Except for you and Izuki." Takao mumbled under his breath, freezing in spot.  _Izuki?_ Startled, he started to look around, seeking for the aforementioned person. He knew Kuroko was from Seirin, and so was his new acquaintance Izuki Shun ..but Takao had never invited him to the party!

And how in the world would he slip out of the hawk eye's sight? Maybe he had misheard Kuroko. It was extremely noisy, after all, he could have said any other name. That's what Takao assumed after a few minutes of fruitlessly looking for the uninvited guest around the house.

Midorima, in the meantime, was trying to ignore the noise booming outside his door and finish the book he had started. He refused to host the party along with Takao and left his roommate to deal with all the guests on his own, which became the reason Momoi took the wheel.

He had read the exact same line for 15 times and wasn't able to read into it at all. All the noise had taken his attention away from reading, and soon he found himself rubbing his temples in irritation.

Midorima wasn't exactly familiar with parties and had hoped that everyone would have left after 10, but at quarter to eleven he realized that it wasn't going to happen. He abandoned the book, tossing it to the side of his bed and went into the shower.

The closed shower cabin seemed to be the only soundproof place left in the apartment, and upon realizing that, an already-undressed Shintaro considered bringing his book into the bathroom. He stepped into the shower and after a few relaxing moments under the warm stream of water, he pushed himself back, nearly ripping the glass door of the cabin off.

The shower had gradually become ice cold.

Midorima huffed, trying to figure out what was wrong and soon concluded that someone was messing with hot running water. Immediately assuming that it was Takao playing another prank on him, he dried himself off, jumped into the same clothes he had been wearing the whole day and stormed towards his friend's room.

 Angrily banging on the door, Midorima caught more than necessary pairs of eyes, all watching him curiously. The voices around him died down and bewildered looks occupied people's faces.

"Takao, open up, bastard!" Midorima yelled, ignoring the droplets of water that clung to his green locks and were wetting his shoulders.

In a matter of seconds, Takao came running up the stairs. The colour of the dead stained his skin and worry swam through his widened orbs. "What's wrong, Shin-chan?" He asked in a shaky tone, grabbing the railing of the staircase securely to make a quick escape.

Midorima's fist dropped to his side, mouth shaped a straight line and brows furrowed in confusion. "Who's inside your room?" He asked back, trying to turn the knob, but it was locked.

"Hell if I know!" Takao snapped worriedly, running up to the door of his room. Everyone, without an exception, was down the stairs or in the hallways. Takao was sure he knew exactly where each person was. But what if..

Producing a key out of his pocket, Takao unlocked his room and the two cohabitants burst inside, shoving each other's sides and nearly tripping over as they did. Spotting no one inside, they shot their gaze to the bathroom, where the noise of the shower was coming from.

By that moment, some others had pooled together in Takao's room, wondering what was going on. Midorima swung the bathroom door open and in front of the hosts of the party and some of their guests stood a shirtless Izuki Shun.

There was Izuki's dirtied shirt lying in the shower cabin while he was cleaning something off his chest using a sponge. The man froze the moment Midorima opened the door. He stared out of it, at no one particularly, and in awe.

"Izuki Shun?" Takao's jaw hit the ground.

"Izuki Shun? Where?!" The busted man gasped, attempting to quickly close the bathroom door. Takao stuck his foot in the doorway, not letting Izuki shut himself inside.

"Why in the world is shower on?!" Midorima interrupted, giving Izuki a death glare.

"Did you invite him, Shin-chan?" Takao addressed his roommate through clenched teeth, still pushing the door with all of his might.

"I haven't invited anyone! Especially strangers!" Midorima barked.

The guests watching the show from afar were all on their phones, either tweeting about the situation or recording it on camera.

 Once Midorima stepped in to help Takao, Izuki could no longer hold the door. Instead, he let the two stumble into the bathroom and closed it behind himself.

"Before it gets  _steamy_ here, let me turn the shower off." Izuki joked, doing as he said. He then grabbed a towel and held it over his chest.

Fury made both Takao's and Midorima's blood boil, their fists itched to make contact with Shun's face, but they felt the need to hear the story behind  _that_. 

"You have 30 seconds to explain what happened." Takao sighed in defeat, dropping his shoulders.

Izuki flinched, reaching to scratch the back of his head. "I was only passing by and saw that someone was hosting a huge party---"

"We're on the seventh floor!" Midorima cut him off, growing impatient.

"Well, okay, I might have followed Kise Ryouta here." Admitted the eagle eye nonchalantly.

"So you were stalking Kise?" Takao was taken aback. His eyelashes clashed repeatedly in disbelief. So the strange man he had met randomly was spying on YouTube celebrities. One such victim was a recognized parodist Kise Ryouta, known as the Copy Cat for his stunning impressions and hilarious music parodies.

"Hey, I'm not some creep." Izuki pouted, arching his eyebrows. "I've known Kise back in high school. I used to be Kuroko's teammate, too!"

Too exhausted to ask how the uninvited guest managed to slip out of his sight, Takao left the subject be, now asking about the ruined shirt that Izuki was obviously trying to wash in his shower.

 

_**\--- Earlier in the evening ---** _

 

Having made it to the party, Shun tried his best to stay invisible to Takao simply by walking in his blind zones. He took a lot of photos, got to meet some discernible peers from the internet and had an unexpected reunion with his team junior, Kuroko. But while he was carelessly chatting with his blue-haired friend, he had nearly forgotten about staying in Takao's blind zone. He rushed to bid Kuroko a goodbye and retreated to the other side of the room.

He grabbed himself a drink and tried to act neutral when he noticed the blue-eyed host talking to Kuroko. Assuming that his presence might be revealed soon, he picked up pace and went for the balcony, still carrying the plastic cup with unknown to him content inside of it.

Occupied by the thought of being caught, Izuki completely ignored the glass door separating him from the balcony and walked straight into it, squishing the cup between the glass and his chest, thus spilling the drink all over his shirt.

 

~~

"It turned out to be soda." Izuki whined, hanging his head.

Midorima and Takao stiffened before they loosened their muscles and grew calmer.

"Just get out of shower and borrow Takao's shirt." Midorima commanded in a cold tone, readjusting his glasses.

"Hey! I never said he could borrow my clothes!" Objected the shorter male, nudging Shintaro in the side.

"I need to take a shower, so make sure  _your_ friends stay away from this one." Bespectacled man said just as coldly, walking out of the bathroom.

The crowd had diverged and only Momoi was standing in front of Midorima, worriedly linking her fingers together. "Is everything alright?" She pried, trying to peek behind her green-haired friend.

"Nothing worth all this fuss." Midorima responded, gesturing her to leave Takao's room. Returning to his chamber, he found some guests invading his personal space, what made his evening even more displeasing.

"Sorry about this, man." Izuki laughed, picking up his soaking-wet t-shirt. He gave it a couple of squeezes, and Takao accidentally watched him flexing his toned arms. Izuki was of a very decent build, without excess fat and just enough muscles.

 _"What is this idiot doing?"_ He gulped, growing strained. Leaving Takao alone with an attractive, shirtless man in his room must've been the most cruel thing Midorima'd ever done to him unwittingly. But as soon as he heard the other man speak, realization slapped him in the face.

 _"It's just Izuki."_ Takao exhaled in relief.

"What is wrong with you?!" He cocked a brow, shielding his forehead with the palm of his hand. "You can have one of my shirts and then just go, please."

"Kay', thanks!" Izuki patted him on the shoulder as he stepped into the bedroom and patiently sat waiting to get a dry shirt.

The following day was worse than a Monday hangover; The house was buried six feet under the pile of litter and whatnot. Carpets were all in desperate need of cleaning and everything smelled of food with a light scent of alcohol.

The guests had left shortly after midnight, for the boys lived in an apartment with neighbours inhabiting the space over and under them. Some stayed longer, including Kise and Momoi. Thankfully, none of the visitors had overdone the beverage, and those who hadn't had any alcohol delivered their tipsy friends home.

Takao was up before afternoon to tidy the apartment, and only the crunching of the plastic bags and ticking of the wall clock was ringing in the air. His head hurt. Not from drinking, but from the lack of sleep he got that night. Gosh, did he sleep  _at all_ _?_ He couldn't remember.

He felt guilty for having made such a mess out of what was supposed to be a small party. The housewarming evening was never reckoned at this amount of friends to come together, and to top it off, all of them had brought something as a gift or an addition to the party: drinks, food, balloons.. All of that, however, was now wallowing on the floor, looking as worn out as Takao was.

Once the fourth bag of his size was stuffed with waste and his back started to ache, Takao quietly sat down across one of the stair slabs and breathed heavily. His hands reached to rub his stinging eyes and his chest felt heavy with the soothsaying of Midorima's reaction to their brand new apartment's current condition.

He heard a door creak, followed by the sound of slow footsteps. It was his roommate (hopefully, it was only Midorima) approaching the tired man. His tall posture loomed over Takao as he leaned on the railing, remaining wordless to the extent of a sudden flameout coming from his friend.

Takao uncovered his eyes and shot his head up to see that Midorima's already been staring. The blue-eyed lad drooped his head, letting out a weary giggle.

"Hopefully I'll be done by the end of this week." He joked morosely, being apparently not keen on the idea.

Midorima first shrugged, then took a better look at their  _vandalized_ place. "I've called a couple of maids. Let's take the trash out and they'll do the rest." He blurted out in a believably serious voice.

Takao winced, cocking an eyebrow. His face shifted from agitated to confused and the other way round. "Are you joking? How are we going to afford the maid service?" He wondered, growing visibly nervous because he had exhausted all of his saving for that week.

"Consider that a favor from me. Besides, I live here too." The green-haired man pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He sounded self-appreciative, but it never bothered Takao, as long as he was willing to pay.

"Shin-chan!" Takao enthused. Surprised, flattered and utterly confused. Midorima had made it clear that he had nothing to do with either the party or the disastrous medley that was going to be the consequence of it, yet he offered a great helping hand and didn't even snap at Takao.

"Is something off?" Takao implied, tilting his head to the side as he looked up at his housemate again.

Midorima averted his gaze, crossing his arms over his chest. "There was a call from home earlier."

"Oh." Takao relaxed, flexing his arms in the air before he laid them on his nape. "How's your sister doing?"

A frown appeared on Shintaro's face and he closed his eyes slowly. "They said she's been neglecting her treatment because of her depression and they want me to check up on her."

"Huh? Since when does she suffer from depression?" Takao laughed. He was well aware of Midorima's sister's deteriorating health and how she used it in her own favor. He disliked almost no one who walked on the face of earth, but that girl was gnawing on his spine as much as she was doing so to Midorima Shintaro.

"It's been over a month. She must have missed ruining your life. But if they say she's neglecting her treatment and obviously blame it on your moving out, you're thinking of going to see her, right?" Asked Takao, glimpse of curiosity smouldering within his oculars.

Midorima let a tiny hiss slip through his gritted teeth. What else was he to do? And how come Takao always knew which buttons to push? He always drove Midorima up the wall to the point of exasperation, he never failed to get under his skin. Whenever he talked to Takao about his family, he felt like he was being searched, examined, seen through.

"Not like she'll throw her life away just for the sake of making you guilty of it. You don't need to go, Shin-chan, she'll be okay and that will only prove that your absence doesn't affect her." Takao didn't want the younger Midorima sibling to have his friend around her little finger, or did he not want to be apart from Midorima? Takao had figured out long ago that he liked Midorima in a different kind of way. And he tried his damnest to not give it away, but was he being too protective now?

The bespectacled male opened his mouth as to say something when they heard the door bell ringing, rapid knocks and even kicks on their door. Distracted by the furious reaching out to them, Takao rushed to the door and peered through the peep hole to see Momoi impatiently twirling in one spot. There was a laptop in her hands and an excited mien present on her face.

Letting the girl in, Takao stepped aside to not get knocked off his feet by the lightning-fast Momoi who burst into the apartment. Nearly tripping over the plastic bags, she ran over to Midorima, gesturing Takao to come nearer.

"What's up?" Takao asked, a little terrified. He was mortified by the obnoxious mess reigning in their apartment also, but that seemed to bother Momoi the least.

She put her portable computer on her lap and opened it. The screen lit up and a Tumblr post immediately caught the two boys' eyes. "So someone had been blogging last night." She giggled, scrolling down.

"The topless guy who was in your bathroom is a Tumblr famous blogger I follow." She explained. "He's posted the story with pictures of how he sneaked inside yesterday and how he locked himself in your bathroom, and that post has got over ten thousand notes overnight!"

The text post Izuki had made contained some inaccurately taken in a rush pictures of himself, first in the apartment (without revealing its whereabouts) and then inside Takao's shower. The captions were hilariously and shortly explaining how he found himself at a party and how he was avoiding the host he happened to know.

"Look, Shin-chan, there's your head!" Takao laughed, pointing at one of the blurry pictures Izuki had attached to a post.

"Takao-kun, your subscribers have already noticed that it's your apartment, they're going crazy in the comments of your latest video." Momoi clarified, giving him a pitying look.

"Oh, great.." Takao hung his head as if his neck had been rid of muscles. "Izuki's such a trouble-maker!" He exclaimed, then breathed in deeply, knowing that soon he'd be back to return the shirt he had borrowed, even though Takao assured him that he could have it.

He was simply the kind of person who'd find a reason to come back and the only person Takao sincerely couldn't understand.

And now he sat awaiting Midorima's decision, the maids, Izuki and thousands of tweets, messages and posts from his fans asking about the party which they originally wanted to keep a secret and which turned into a scandalous headline thanks to Izuki.


	5. Wherever I go, trouble follows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takao takes Midorima on a geology trip, but it doesn't turn out as smooth and perfect as he'd imagined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm extremely sorry for my 2 months hiatus. I had exams and all that jazz.. Sorry ;w; I'm happy to announce that I'm officially back and this work will be updated! Can't say for sure how often, but it will be updated at least once in a month.

It was midst October when Takao's faculty decided to hold an open-air expedition for practicing geology. A perfect opportunity to play around with the measuring equipment and bond with classmates. Takao, however, had no intentions of bonding with anyone or whatsoever. Instead, he spend the whole previous evening convincing Midorima to tag along.

Midorima, on his behalf, didn't like the idea of spending a whole day surrounded by people performing structural geology on rocks, but the idea of getting out into wild flora did appeal to the green-haired man.

Cancer's item of the day was a particular type of plant which Midorima failed to find in the local shops and greenhouse, but he had high hopes of finding it around the field where Takao's group would be having an expedition.

Sipping his steaming-hot cup of tea whilst wistfully gazing into a blank wall above the TV, he let Takao's blabber worthlessly pass through one ear and exit another. Since he wasn't known to have gone through a day without his lucky item, he wasn't planning to give up on this one either. He didn't mind having it the next day, as long as he had it at all.

"I'm going." Said Shintaro without realizing that he'd cut his housemate in mid-sentence.

"But Shin-chan, I'll be so lonely, please--" Takao carried on whining absentmindedly. It took him a minute to register what Midorima had said. "Wait, really?!" He exclaimed, having to put his palms over his mouth to prevent himself from breaking into louder giggles.

"I'll go with one condition." Midorima added, setting his mug aside. He crossed his arms, leaning against the backrest of the chair.

Takao's eyes twinkled as his lips curved into a weak smile.

"You  _can't_ prank me during that day." The bespectacled boy said crossly, glaring at Takao sitting nearby. "Since it's a practice trip, I expect you to be focusing on your objective instead of fooling around--"

"Where's the  _I agree to the terms and conditions_ button?" Takao interrupted, stretching his shoulders as a yawn left his mouth. "I get it, Shin-chan. I won't prank you  _and_ will concentrate on my task."  


~~

 

No sooner had Midorima regretted his decision to go than he got on the bus. Although Takao's faculty mates wouldn't mind a medical student on the board, there was still a thick line of discomfort secluding Midorima from the rest of the group. Everyone found him a struggle to approach and needles to say, so did Takao.

The boy was tearing in half between two fronts - devoting time to progressive and obligatory conversation with his group and keeping Midorima awake. Those efforts must have taken the toll of him, for Takao soon grew carsick and slightly drowsy.

"I think I'm going to throw up." The boy whined, holding onto his mouth as his gaze shot upwards. The healthy color of his face faded, giving him a look of the dead.

"You wouldn't have been nauseous if you had focused on something immobile on the bus, for example a book." Midorima remarked in an apathetic tone, raising his book as if in jubilation. Little did he know he was the 'immobile thing' Takao had his eyes on during the trip.

"Shin-chan.." Takao grumbled, slapping the book out of his friend's hold. "I'm suffering!"

"What do you want me to do?!" Midorima snapped, gritting his teeth as he picked his book up and wiped the dust and filth of the bus floor off of it. "If I knew you were carsick, I'd give you a medication before going on the bus." He sighed, pushing his glasses up the bridge of the nose.

"How much have we left to drive?" Takao leaned over the seat in front of his own, peering at his faculty friend.

"It's almost a two hour ride, excluding stops for break, and we've been on the road for ten minutes now." The girl sitting in front of him said apologetically, scratching the back of her head.

"What a bummer." Takao pouted, lifelessly sliding back into his seat.

Minutes later, he was already snoring clamorously next to Midorima, who was using up his last bits of patience and endurance against the disturbance Takao was causing. The bumpy road they had taken wasn't helping. As the bus ran over big pebbles and small holes, Takao's head kept wobbling from left to right until it landed on Midorima's shoulder.

The green-haired man shivered and jerked his shoulder up in attempts to shake the heavy noggin off, but it kept falling back on his shoulder persistently.

Fatigued by the battle against gravity, Midorima was ready to raise a white flag and let Takao's head rest until it'd make his muscles sore (which was already happening due to all the bouncing). With another sigh, Midorima took a hold of his book again and in a quiet, yet dreadful voice said,

"Throw up on me and you're  _dead_."

 

After a very long and tiring ride, they had finally reached their destination. Having alighted the vehicle, Takao collapsed onto the grassy earth, letting his whole body feel the freshness of the nature.

"That's the remedy I needed!" He sang happily, moving his arms and legs like they do when making a snow angel on the ground.

"Get up and help to carry the luggage." Midorima called,  walking past with a huge backpack on his back and a couple of bags in each hand. The working space for the future geologists was right across the field where they'd make their camp.

Seventeen students, two professors and a medical student would have to distribute themselves evenly in eleven tents. Of course, the two professors had claimed individual tents, meaning that there would be 2 people per each tent.

Once they had all split in pairs, they started to build their own tents and much to Midorima and Takao's terror, their building experience wasn't  _great_ for crying out loud. They knew they had slim chances of handling the work together, but neither of them was familiar with building a tent.

"I wish Aomine was here, he seems to be good with this kind of stuff." Takao announced, picking up a small, metal hammer.

"Don't touch that!" Midorima barked. "You could spot a fly flying up to you from the rear, but you would miss the nail and hammer your foot instead."

Takao laughed, shrugging. "There are things even I'm bad at."

"I can give you a list longer than the great wall of China." Midorima retorted, sticking a thin pole into the ground.

"Takao, Midorima," One of the geology students marched up to the two, snapping them out of their little argument. "Everyone's done building tents. You look like you could use some help." He proclaimed, tying to hide a mischievous smile. The two had done nothing except for sticking the poles in the ground, what was also done incorrectly.

"We really could!" Takao hopped up, abandoning playing with the hammer.

Once their camp was all set up and neat, they got to work. Midorima spent the first half an hour observing the young geologists. He had been engrossed in the measuring equipment and he even succeeded to impress the professors with his quick adaptation to a whole new branch of science.

"Shin-chan, we're taking a break." Takao stated, walking up to his friend with his hands disposed on the back of his neck. "Are you going to look for that weed now?"

Midorima had obviously forgotten the reason he tagged along, so he was quite worried when he became conscious of the running-out time. "It's not a weed! It's a common flower!"

"So what are we looking for exactly?" Takao asked cunningly, walking Midorima away from the camp to help him look for his item of the day.

"We're looking for mustard of the brassicaceae family."

"Mustard is something you look for in grocery stores, isn't it?" Takao cocked a brow, giving Midorima a teasing mien.

Midorima only glared in response.

"Bra sassy eye mustard, got it." Takao rolled his eyes, glancing around. "I guess I'll call it's name and it will answer or something."

"It's brassicaceae, and it looks like this." The bespectacled man produced his phone out of his jacket's pocket, showing Takao a four-petaled, yellow mustard flower.

"I think I've seen these a couple of kilometers back on the side of the road." At times like this, Midorima was appreciative of Takao's hawk eye, but at the given moment, he didn't know whether he should trust his friend or look for the flower in the nearby area. Going too far from the campsite could lead to some life-threatening consequences.

"Let's go, Shin-chan! We're adults, we won't get lost." Takao reassured, waving him off dismissively.

~~

"Well.." His green hair brushed against the shells of his ears, rocking with the gentle breeze. "Wasn't that predictable?" The man wondered, proudly holding a small container of dirt with a yellow flower sitting in it merrily.

"At least we've found your flower." Takao reminded, continuously sniffing the same plant. "Are you sure it's the mustard flower? It doesn't really smell like mustard."

"We got lost." Ignoring the precious question, Midorima elucidated. "You said you saw the flowers on the side of the road. And where in the world is the road?" He asked in a threateningly calm tone, turning around.

Not only Takao, but Shintaro himself had a difficulty deciding whether he was delighted by the loot of theirs or if he was simply on the edge of blowing up. They had been strolling aimlessly for the past 45 minutes to once again come to a conclusion that they're lost without a trace.

"Yeah ...We're a little lost ...Don't tell professors we went missing or we'll be in major trouble and better off not coming back at all ...Sure, just give me a couple of hours ...Distract them, I don't know!" Takao's talk with his university pal was getting more and more emotional and soon involved pacing around the same spot, hand gestures and slightly alarming desperation in his tone.

"What a bother." Takao grunted under his breath after putting his phone back into his pocket. He rubbed his hands on the sleeves of his coat, rocking back and forth. "And it's getting cold, too."

"Have you tried using GPS?" Midorima pried, still gazing into the distance as if a beautiful sunset was about to roll down and make the atmosphere romantic to the extent of being surreal. And that might be the reason it wasn't happening.. It was October and at around four o'clock, the sun was well past the zenith, but not yet setting.

"I don't have internet connection." Takao mumbled, disinterestedly throwing pebbles into a puddle.

Takao knew the way back, had known all along. But he just didn't want to go. Being alone with Midorima was something he learned to appreciate while being with him around other students. Privacy invaded, plans ruined and a friend missed - that's what Takao achieved from today's expedition. He was happy to once again be one on one, heart to heart with Midorima. He wasn't going to make any moves on him, not yet. But simply standing next to him and having the freedom to stare at him without anyone making an unnecessary remark was enough to make Kazunari feel at ease.

He never considered himself lost with Midorima on his side to begin with.

"I think we should go that way." Takao stood up, having made his mind up to return to the campsite. His heart felt heavy with words he couldn't say, emotions he couldn't express, thirst he couldn't satisfy.

"Hey, Shin-chan." He spoke up, receiving a short  _'hm?'_ in reply. "Do you think I should pursue a youtube career?"

"Where did that question come from?" Midorima wrinkled his forehead, growing visibly strained.

"Just answer."

A minute of nerve-wrecking silence later, Midorima reluctantly enunciated, "That's what you've been doing for the past four years anyway. Besides, I know you don't see yourself observing the earth crust for a living."

Takao knew there was more to say, but something was holding him back from doing so. Did Midorima think that making entertaining videos for viewers wasn't a real job? Giving it a thought, Takao realized that they had never discussed it before. Never had he heard Midorima's opinion about his job and his dream. Takao, on the other hand, had always been supportive, giving Shintaro honest opinions and even letting him practice bandaging on him (even when he didn't need it).

"Okay, cool." Takao laughed humorlessly, a little let down. The mood dropped apparently and the two spent the rest of their walk to the camp in silence.

"I see someone." Midorima announced and picked up a faster pace.

"They're not from my university." Takao crooked an eyebrow, but kept following his friend regardless of the matter.

"Excuse me," Midorima called out to the girl standing with her back turned upon the two. She turned around, momentarily shuddering from the sight of strangers.

"Can I help you?" She blinked repeatedly.

"Yes---" Midorima was interrupted by Takao shoving him aside.

"Me and my friend are just going back to our campsite." Takao took the lead, being surprisingly nonchalant.

"So you're campers? I hope you're not going to complain about the noise or something. It's a geology trip and we're studying rocks around this area because it's said to be volcanic." The girl explained, gesturing to the hiking group in the distance.

"You're geologists too? Cool! So am I. I'm from Shinshu University's faculty of science." Takao enthused.

"What a coincidence. I'm a first year student from Kyoto University's earth science and technology department." The girl said eagerly.

"I'm Takao Kazunari. I'm a third year, so I guess it makes me a senpai of yours." The boy grinned.

"I doubt it, I've changed my specialty after three years of professionally coaching a basketball team, that's the only reason I'm a first year. I'm 22 years old, actually, which is quite embarrassing. My name's Aida Riko."

For some reason, meeting Aida made Midorima completely forget that Takao had shut him up and that they were supposed to return to the camp. He didn't even complain when Takao agreed to help Riko fix her PDA.

Takao must have been overthinking, but everything about Aida Riko screamed  _Midorima's type_. He thought that the day couldn't have got any worse, but then among the hiking group of geologists from Kyoto university, Takao saw a morbidly familiar black-haired guy with inky eyes.

"Hey there, Takao." Izuki waved, innocently grinning.

"Oh hey. Why did I think I'd dodge you." Takao laughed, crouching beside Izuki who was skimming through some rocks to study.

~~

"Didn't know you went to Shinshu." It was Izuki's fourth attempt to start a conversation with Takao, but the blue-eyed man wouldn't look away from Midorima and Aida, who were casually chatting about the book Midorima had brought.

"Do you like---"

"I don't like Shin-chan. I'm not into dudes." Takao interrupted before Izuki had a chance to finish his sentence.

"Alright.. I was about to ask if you had fallen for our Aida. Okay. Just forget this." Izuki shook his head, struggling to hold his laughter back.

Takao felt his face growing red. He bowed his head low, looking straight down until he'd pull himself together again. He violently grabbed a perfectly smooth stone lying on the ground and shoved it in Izuki's hands.

"This one looks perfect." He said, masking his embarrassment with a triumphant laughter.

"It does." Izuki raised the stone in the air, studying it from all the possible angles before tossing it into his container. It was a hazel-colored stone with smooth, round edges and a transparent nature. "So are you sure you're not into dudes?"

"Yes, I am sure!" Takao yelled. It was unintentional and so mortifying, that he had to walk away from Izuki and others.

Takao's commitment to hiding his feelings for Midorima was crumbling all thanks to Izuki's stupid question and the jealousy Aida Riko had triggered was only helping to give his biggest secret away.

He felt his throat swelling from the bitter tears he wouldn't allow to spill from his eyes. It wouldn't make things better. Reality checks had always left Takao frustrated and broken, no matter how hard he tried to hide it behind a festive attitude and a fake smile that he hoped would soon be replaced by real.

Once again he was reminded that the person he's head over hills for is straight. Once again he's comprehended how hellishly hurtful one-sided love can be. Love? Was it really love?

"We'll go refresh at the river, guys!" Izuki called his group, rushing after Takao who unconsciously ran in the direction of the said river. "Hey, hold up!" Izuki weaved his way through thick cover of leaves and scratchy branches, following Takao deeper into the woods.

"Can you  _please_ leave me alone for some time?" Takao stopped in front of a small stream and started to kick the air, forming a small cloud of dust at this feet.

"I just want to help!" Izuki laid a hand on Takao's shoulder. "Look at me."

"What?" An irked man glanced over his shoulder to see an unfamiliar, serious expression on Shun's face.

"Fell for a straight guy, huh? I've been there before."

 _"What?!"_ Takao's eyes widened. He swept Izuki's hand off his shoulder and took a step back.

"Take another step back and you'll slip on the wet rocks in the stream." Izuki warned, sitting down on the ground with a certain glimpse of moroseness in his black orbs.

Takao's muscles stiffened. He wouldn't take a step forwards. He was shocked and utterly terrified. It wasn't the first time a fellow homosexual had discovered his true appealing for men, but Izuki, out of all people?

"So you were hitting on me back when we first met?" Takao asked, his eyebrows knitted together and jaw hung open. "And what exactly do you want with me now?"

"I'm here to look at rocks, not cocks." Izuki stated, exhaling in defeat.

Finally, Takao calmed his boiling blood and sat at a safe distance across from the eagle eye.

"There are plenty of fish in the sea." Izuki chimed in, looking up at the darkening sky on which the moon had already made a faint appearance.

Takao's silver-bluish eyes shot daggers at the other chap, notifying that he shouldn't even try promoting himself in the given situation. Takao was too upset and tired to deal with a peculiar gay boy who was most likely attracted to him as well.

"Not in this river though, okay." Izuki corrected himself, tossing a small twig into the stream. The sound of running water and the quiet rustle of the leaves had been booming inside Takao's had louder than ever, mixing all his thoughts and dragging his mood down the gloomy abyss.

"I hope you're not going to tell anyone about your discovery." Takao muttered, feeling down in damps and trampled.

"No, I like to keep such gems to myself." Izuki blurted out of the blue, making shivers run all over Kazunari's skin. In a matter of seconds, he produced a bright, half-transparent hazel rock out of his container, the one Takao had handed him absentmindedly, and had a peek through it. "Too pretty to be thrown back after the tests."

"Your puns are unbearable, seriously." Takao laughed, feeling better for no apparent reason. He scooped himself up from the ground carefully and looked into the direction they came from, wearing a genuine smile on his lips.

"I get that a lot." Izuki didn't mind, because in the end, he managed to pull Takao out of misery, at least temporarily. "By the way, I'll drop your shirt off on Sunday."

"Just keep it, for goodness' sake." Hawk eye put his palm over his face, sliding it down his nose and chin.

"Takao." Izuki took a breath in, stopping on his tracks. "You're very attractive."

"No, stop it. I'm not giving up on Shin-chan."

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear." The black-eyed man pointed his index finger in the air, resuming to walk behind Takao. "Although just to let you know, there is no limit to number of friends with benefits!"

"I said, stop!"

 

~~

The two lost housemates managed to return to Shinshu's students before the sun had shyly descended and sank behind the mesmerizing tangerine horizon.

Before going to sleep, students made reports and noted every detail of the day, including not only what they had found, but what they had learned and experienced. Takao was probably the one who had experienced the most during that long day, yet he was the one with nothing to write in the report also.

"How about you put the pen down and go to sleep." Midorima's drowsy voice came out in muffles. He was lying with his back turned upon his roommate and only the crown of his head was peeking out of the sleeping bag.

Takao's flashlight had been bothering Midorima for a while now, but he couldn't blame him for inability to complete the report. After all, it was Midorima's item of the day they got lost looking for.

"Screw this report." Takao tossed the paper and the pen away heartlessly, nestling up in his sleeping bag. "Don't you like anyone, Shin-chan?"

No answer followed.

"I thought it's quite strange. We've been friends for more than four years now, yet you've never told me of any girls you like, never introduced me to your girlfriends." Takao whispered, lowering his voice with each word as if he was no longer hoping to get a response.

"Neither have you.." Midorima mumbled, shifting under the comforter.

Takao couldn't sleep that night. His crush was lying too close, right in the reach of his arms and he had no right to lay even a strand of hair on Midorima's half of the tent.

The more Shintaro turned in his sleep, the closer he crawled to the line separating his half from Takao's, the more Takao felt hot and breathless.

Maybe he  _was_ in need of a distraction? But what if he had jumped at conclusions too fast?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, Shinshu University and Kyoto University are indeed universities in Japan in which they have science (specifically geology) faculties. I hope you liked this chapter! Let me know what you think and what you'd expect from future chapters ^^


	6. Gardening and goodbye carrot man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two updates in 3 days? Yes, please.

The dreadful Sunday had finally rolled over and needles to say, Takao wasn't looking forward to Izuki's visit. He still wasn't over the fact that his secret had been discovered. Having found mutuality of Izuki's and his own undercover life was only making things worse, for now they shared a 'special kind of bond', or so Izuki believed.

Overall, Takao'd rate their geology trip as a traumatic one. He knew it'd be long before he'd have another opportunity to spend a night in the same tent with Midorima. Trying to push the negative thoughts into the back of his mind, Kazunari seemed to have gone completely apathetic. His cheery attitude was replaced by an indifferent view on the very existence. Even Midorima noticed the sudden shift in his housemate's conduct. It was impossible to ignore.

The merry ringing of the doorbell filled the air, making Takao feel twice as heavy on the chest. The guest had arrived. Reluctantly shuffling his legs towards the door, Takao started to have second thoughts about staying in an empty apartment with Izuki, but it was too late to go back now. He found himself swinging the door open a second later, although he wasn't completely conscious of what he was doing whilst being lost in the train of thought.

"Hey!" Shun's voice rang to the echo and his grin beamed through the widening gap in the doorway.

"Yo," Takao forced a weak smile. He had made it his habit to smile when greeting people, even when he was on the edge of breaking down. Better than anyone else, Takao was familiar with how contagious a bad mood could be, and not like he wanted anyone to sit down and sob with him anyway.

"That doorbell is a-door-a-bell." Izuki said, about to step inside the flat.

"You can leave now." Takao pointed back at the door, feeling too tired to put up with unsuccessful puns.

"But it's not even e **leave** n o'clock yet." Was the last thing Izuki managed to blurt out before the door shut in his face. "I can change! Although I don't have any coins." His muffles reached the other side.

Without further ado, Takao opened the door again and let the visitor in. The sooner he'd invite him in, the sooner Izuki would leave.

"Are we alone?" Izuki smirked to himself, dumping his backpack on the sofa.

"Only because we have something to discuss." Takao's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, but the joy in his tone had never faded. "Fancy a drink?"

"A coffee'd be great. I was going to have some on my way here, but they kicked me out of the coffee shop for wearing a tea-shirt." Shun stated ever so proudly.

"It's your fourth pun and you haven't even been here for 2 minutes." Takao chuckled, delving inside the cabinets to find instant coffee. It hadn't been long since he moved in with Midorima, therefore there was no particular arrangement for kitchen tools and products. Everything that belonged out of the fridge was simply and disgracefully scattered somewhere in the kitchen.

"While we're still at it, I'll put this here." Izuki produced the shirt he had borrowed from Takao and carefully laid it on the back of the sofa.

"You know, something crazy always happens in my life, but when you are around, I just can't get away with it." Takao told the black-eyed lad, waiting for water inside the electric kettle to boil.

"You mean your party? I didn't think anyone would have recognized your brand new apartment." The puppy-dog look Izuki had given Takao upon saying that was convincing enough, so Takao let it go. He waved his hand dismissively, shaking his head.

"Forget that." He said. As he started to pour the steaming-hot water into the coffee mugs, Izuki left his seat and hopped on of the tall bar chairs in front of the kitchen counter instead.

"So how long are you planning to hide in the closet?" Izuki wondered, lazily stirring his instant coffee.

"As long as it takes me to fall for someone else." Takao answered in a small voice, laying his palms flat on the cold counter.

"Is that what you've decided? Last time you told me that you weren't giving up on that guy."

"I know.. I don't want to give up on him, but I have to, dammit." The blue-eyed male cussed under his breath, abruptly snatching the cup of hot drink up. He hadn't intended to spill it not only on his hands, but also his shirt.

Setting it back on the table, he started to furiously wave his stinging hands in the air. He darted to the sink and let the cold water wash over his scalded skin, then got to his stomach which was now turning red.

"Put that shirt on." Izuki gestured to the t-shirt he had returned. Takao obediently stripped out of his wet top and started to change into it. "Cool, now we've both seen each other shirtless." Izuki enunciated, sipping his drink.

"Great, just great." Takao rolled his eyes, returning to the kitchen to mop the mess.

"Are you really hoping to find somebody with that body of yours?" Izuki raised an eyebrow, watching Takao's expression shift from deadpan to amused, but visibly offended.

"I might have gone a little out of shape since I abandoned basketball, but this shouldn't be an issue." He shrugged. He didn't want Izuki to say something else, but the silence  _was_ driving him up the wall. "Or is it an issue?" He suddenly grew concerned and pulled his shirt up by the hem, studying what had once been a six-pack.

"You could use a gym membership." Izuki raised his mug in the air before taking another sip. "Or else it just won't work out with guys."

Takao wasn't proud of having given Izuki that pun idea, but tasteless jokes bothered him the least at the given moment. He started to feel uncomfortable in his own skin and his self esteem had suddenly gone worryingly down.

"Luckily for you, I know just the right place!"

 

~~

Taking a look around, Takao once again remembered why he loathed working out in the gym. He would much rather go jogging with Midorima than be in danger of popping a random boner in the middle of a crammed with people gym, speaking nothing of the sharp smell of sweat (especially because it brought nostalgic memories of practicing basketball) and constant 'who works out the longest' battles with the person exercising next to him.

"Let's go. I know a guy who will give you a perfect workout plan to get a real model body." Izuki winked, going on ahead while Takao was left thinking if there was a hidden meaning behind the said words.

..Turns out there was.

In front of Takao stood in his full glory no other than Kise Ryouta. Droplets of sweat were rolling down his toned chest, his hair and face were on point, as if always ready to be exposed to the flashes of cameras.

"Hey, Kise!" Izuki had the impertinence to walk up to the blond and greet him with a casual slap on the butt, although Kise definitely found it rather inappropriate.

"Cheeky.." He muttered as he wiped the excess sweat off his face, spinning on his heel to face the two. "Oh, Takaocchi?" Confusion, as well as pure embarrassment had stained Kise's face momentarily and he seemed short on words to say. "Nice seeing you here."

"Same." Takao answered hesitantly. He wouldn't have thought that Izuki had indeed been acquainted with Kise. Guilt for calling him a stalker crawled into his bones, sending chills all over his body.

"This guy here is trying to impress a lady, we need to get him in shape." Izuki explained, pointing at Takao with his thumb.

"Who's the lucky girl?" Kise giggled, throwing a towel over his head. "Well, that's one thing I can help with."

Not only was Kise Ryouta a fellow youtube star, he was also a well-known model across Japan and a former basketball player from the generation of miracles. That's how Takao knew him, through another player of the GoM - Midorima.

And so Takao started his journey to achieve a perfectly sculpted body, following the workout plan Kise's agency had come up with. Although Takao wasn't nearly as tall as the blond model was, therefore Kise's regimen might have not suited him.

 

~~

Once the exhausting day at the gym had drawn to an end, Takao decided to take a refreshing walk to the apartment. He was pondering over whether it was worth the effort at all, because by the end of the day, looks didn't matter. But at the same time, Takao had lost a significant chunk of his self esteem because _someone_ had pointed out his flaws.

"I'm not doing this for anyone else but myself." He started to play those words inside his head like a broken record. He wasn't used to making changes for someone else. No, he just refused to believe that he had been desperate enough to make changes for Shintarou.

"Has this shop always been here?" He asked aloud, like someone was supposed to give him an answer. He stopped on his tracks, studying the window of the floral shop he had come across. He hadn't seen it before, regardless of having moved into that area recently.

He stood there motionless for a couple of minutes before he made his mind up to have a peek inside.

A small bell announced his entering inside the small shop and from behind a jungle of mesmerizing potted flowers appeared a tall brunette, who had been fussing around the shop for a while now.

"Hello! Sorry, we're about to close, so make it quick, please." He sang in a sweet voice, smiling to the only customer in the late hours.

"Oh, I had no idea. My bad." Takao scratched the back of his head, glancing at the flower pots lying in the corner. "Do you think I could buy one of these right now?"

"Sure, hold on a moment!" The tall brunette called, rushing over to Takao. "Welcome to the Kiyoshi floral shop, how can I help you?"

"I'll take this flower pot." Takao grinned, picking up a small, orange pot with different patters in green.

"Alright, let me package it for you." The brunette stuck his hand out.

"No, it's okay." Takao assured him, starting to look for his wallet inside his gym bag. After a minute of fruitless delving, he started to grow worried. "Ah, my wallet should be in here.."

Tension rose. Takao started to realize he never owned a wallet in the first place and that the florist with kind, brown oculars was in a rush to close the shop.

"I guess I'll come back tomorrow, sorry." The blue-eyed male said awkwardly, sitting the pot back where it belonged.

"Take the pot and pay for it tomorrow." The brunette said, wearing a sunny smile.

"Are you sure? It feels kinda wrong.. I'll leave it." Takao shrugged. He  _did_  want to take that pot home tonight, because it might have become idle the next day, but there wasn't much to help the current situation.

"Just take it home, it's not a problem. If there's something you learn while working in a floral shop, it's that people are trustworthy." The florist declared, patting a flower next to him.

"Wouldn't I be getting an employee in trouble?" Takao pried, concern written over his face.

"It's doubtful. My grandparents own the place." Kiyoshi clarified.

"Alright, then I'll gladly take it home today." A happy smile occupied the hawk eye's face. He carefully laid the pot inside his gym bag and gave Kiyoshi a brief wave. "I'll be back tomorrow."

"We open at 8 a.m." Kiyoshi informed, waving back.

 

~~

Takao was excited to find Midorima sitting in the living room in front of the TV. He hurriedly took his sneakers off and in a calm manner approached his housemate. Out of his bag, he pulled out a small flower pot and laid it on the coffee table, right before the bespectacled man.

"What is that?" Midorima cocked an eyebrow, leaning forward.

"That's for the mustard flower. I bet it's still sitting in that dirty jar." Takao proclaimed nonchalantly, dumping himself on a nearby armchair.

Midorima's expression suddenly softened, he reached for the tiny pot and started to swirl it in his hands. One could see with how much care he was handling the fragile ceramic. "That's ..considerate of you." Shintarou said with arched eyebrows while pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He stood up and headed for his bedroom to place his little plant in a new container.

Hearing his roommate's footsteps disappear after a creak of a door, Takao rejoiced, he triumphantly crossed his arms on the back of his head, looking into nowhere particularly.

A couple of minutes later, Midorima returned to the living room and set the mustard flower, now potted, on the kitchen counter.

"Looks great." Takao mused. Only then did he realize that he had picked Shuutoku's colors.

"Have you been working out?" Midorima asked out of the blue, making the shorter man's face light up with glee.

"Can you already tell?" Takao grinned, flexing his arms.

"..You literally entered in gym clothes and with a carrier bag on your shoulder." Midorima uttered, sitting back down in front of the TV. He reached for the remote and started to disinterestedly switch channels. "Plus you look like Miyaji's just made you practice for an extra hour."

Another wave of nostalgia crashed against Takao, making his lips curl into a faint smile. "Maaan, I had forgotten how stuffy gyms are." He quickly changed the subject, waiting for Midorima to appreciate his efforts ..probably.

"What a waste of money." Shintaro fired out, keeping a deadpan mien.

"Shin-chan, it's not a  _waste!_ " Takao defended, pouting.

"You could have started working out indoors too." The green-haired male notified, not sparing his housemate a glance.

"So I can feel bad about how you've kept your shape? No, thanks." Takao crossed his arms over his chest.

"Whatever floats your boat." Shintarou blinked slowly, standing up. Wordlessly, he proceeded into his room, leaving Takao with food for thought.

Did he mean he wanted Takao to work out with him? Or was he really concerned about the small gym fee? There was no possible way it was true.

Agitated, Takao clapped on his both cheeks, making them, as well as the palms of his hands, sting.

"I'm overthinking again."

The next morning began quite early for Kazunari. Having washed his face and brushed his teeth, he was headed down the stairs to have breakfast. Walking past Shintarou's dim-lit room, he had to make a couple of steps back and observe his housemate better through a barely open door.

Midorima was already up and fully dressed, currently packing his suitcase.

Panic started to invade Takao's mind and he couldn't help intruding Midorima's privacy. He nearly kicked the door to his room open, bursting inside. "Shin-chan?" He bent his brows, looking around. "Are you going to visit your family?" Takao assumed.

"No, I've decided I can no longer cope with you. I'm moving out." Midorima announced in a serious tone, carrying on folding his shirts and packing them neatly.

Takao didn't reply. He just stared with a fed-up look on his face. Realizing that he wasn't buying this, Shintarou sighed, giving him a glance. "Yes, I am going to visit my family."

"Are you nuts?! That's exactly what your sister wants you to do! Remember what I told you about it? Just stay away from her and she'll be fine!"

"She is  _my_  sister, Takao, I'll decide what to do." The glare Midorima gave Takao was truly intimidating.

"Are you serious?" Takao laughed, his fingers digging into his inky hair. "She, who's trying to rid you of your career because she couldn't pursue her own!"

"You don't know the whole story!" Midorima snapped out, and now hush fell upon the two, air became heavy with languor.

"Fine.  _Whatever floats your boat_." Takao grumbled, leaving his housemate alone.

Midorima exhaled heavily, looking up into the ceiling. He knew that going would be equal to admitting defeat, but he needed to break free from that chain of false accusations.

When he was finished packing and ready to go, Takao was miserably munching on his cereal with the potted mustard flower sitting on the side of the counter, as if making him a company.

"I'm going." Midorima announced, darting towards the door. "Take care of Roy Mustard. Water him once in two days."

"I will.." Takao maundered between mouthfuls of his crispy meal, although he comprehended that Midorima's flower wasn't going to last long. But for how long did Midorima plan to leave? He never mentioned..

 

~~

"So it turns out he's been secretive all along and supposedly is now on his way to 'make things right' with his family!" An annoyed and frustrated Takao ranted, spilling his heart out to his gym-mates as he carried on furiously working the butterfly machine.

"He wants to make things right? Isn't that a bold statement coming from a lefty!" Izuki coughed up, immediately catching unnecessary stares from people around him.

"I'm sure Midorimacchi has his reasons to keep something away from you." Kise reassured, giving Takao a pat on the shoulder. "Now take it easy, or you'll tear your muscles."

Hearing that, Takao abandoned torturing his arms and chest. He rested his arms on his knees, looking down. "You see, Shin-chan's not the best when it comes to negotiating."

"That's kinda true.. And because of the 'nanodayo' he just can't be taken seriously." Kise scratched his chin, laughing softly.

"It's funny that  _you_ say that- _ssu_." Izuki teased, nudging the blond.

"Says a pun enthusiast.." Takao added. He was somewhat delighted by the fact that he was the only one with no speaking peculiarities, maybe because it was the only thing to make him stand out. "Who's up for a protein shake?"

"You've read my mind." Kise enthused, abandoning the gym equipment for today.

"Get protein shakes together? So people can see me, a humble blogger hanging out with youtube stars and a model? That's a great idea!" Izuki seemed to approve of getting drinks as well, so the three of them were ready to go.

Takao had almost forgotten that he owed Kiyoshi for the flower pot, and upon seeing the same floral shop, slight panic started to ring in the pit of his stomach. "Ah, go on without me, I have to go in there real quick." He pointed at the Kiyoshi floral shop across the street.

"Oh, Takaocchi, buying us flowers? You shouldn't bother!" Kise joked, clapping on his back."Let's go in together." He practically dragged Takao towards the building, ignoring his objections.

"Kiyoshi?" Izuki contemplated the small shop for a while before running after his friends. Eventually, he was the first one to rush inside, wearing a happy smile.

"What are you so excited about?" Takao wondered, producing a 1000 yen bill out of his pocket.

"A guy named Kiyoshi used to play in Seirin, he later got injured and had to undergo a surgery. I haven't heard from him since, pretty much." Izuki explained, but he was disappointed to see only an elderly couple inside.

"Hello, is the assistant that I talked to yesterday here?" Takao asked the couple. They exchanged glances before the woman spoke.

"You must mean our grandson. He's not here today." She said apologetically, shaking her head.

Having paid for the flower pot, the three friends left the florists, resuming their hunt for the protein shakes. "You bought a flower pot yesterday?" Kise pried. "For the girl you're trying to impress?"

What was Takao supposed to do? Admit that it was for his housemate's lucky item of the day? Or pretend to have bought it for a girl? Both options seemed extremely cheesy, so he figured out it'd do just as much harm to tell the truth as it'd do to tell a lie.

"I bought it for Shin-chan's new plant." Takao shrugged, praying to heavens that they'd let the subject go.

"That's cute." Kise smiled, putting his shades on.

"Do you really think that sunglasses give you a good disguise? It's October and there's no sun." Takao laughed at the blond.

Without a superfluous word, Izuki reached for Kise's sunglasses and tried them on. "I've been throwing more shade than Kise anyway." And with that statement, he took the glasses off again and aimlessly hurled them away.

"Hey!" Kise shouted, running with haste to pick up his now-crooked and cracked shades. "Was it really worth the pun?" He sighed, tossing them in the nearby bin.

"You said you hated them." Takao reminded.

"But I needed them for a photoshoot!" Kise retorted, hanging his head.

"You could say I've already ...shot them." Izuki seized an opportunity again.

 

~~

Going back home was difficult today. Takao knew Midorima had already left and so must have his train, and that there was nothing but peace and void to greet him inside the apartment. He didn't know when his housemate would return. Would it be a couple of days? Would it be a week?

Every step felt arduous, as if Takao was walking through quicksand. Deep inside he wished he'd come home to discover that Midorima hadn't left in the end. But knowing how stubborn his friend was, he didn't bother to give himself false hopes.

 _"What if they convince him to move in with his parents and sister?"_ It left him restless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry for all the puns (I'm not). I hope everyone who's seen FMA has got the flower joke.  
> Thanks for reading! Have a great week!


	7. Questions and answers

It only took Takao a day and a half spent without his roommate to realize what a huge part of his life revolved around Midorima. Every meal he's had alone, every minute he's spent feeling loath to stay in his own house, and all because _he_ wasn't near.

Takao tried to turn his camera on and make a new video, he really tried, but every attempt would end with Takao falling out of mood and shutting the camera down. He thought it'd be a fortunate idea to ring Kise up and plan a collaboration, now that he finally had an excuse to propose that idea.

The blond parodist was an experienced youtube star with over five million subscribers and Takao was one of them. He had always been fascinated by Kise's creative music videos, covers of songs and parodies. He was good at everything concerning one's speech and voice, and to make a video with such an outstanding person would be discernibly beneficial for Takao's growing channel.

Takao laid on the carpet with his limbs spread right in front of a couch. After a minute of dully staring into the ceiling, he pulled his phone out and held it over his face, dully scrolling through his contacts. For some reason, he had completely overlooked Kise's name and kept skimming through contacts down to the letter _m._

He sighed, pinpointing "Midorima Shintarou" with his finger. He was about to press the call button when he realized that Midorima wasn't the one he needed to call. Sliding the palm of his hand down his face, he hurled his phone onto the couch.

"Give me a break.." Takao muttered under his breath, laying his forearm across his eyes.

Out of the blue, the doorbell started ringing, and as the sound filled the air, Takao felt his heart jumping out of the cage of his ribs. He sat up, catching his breath. Could it be..?

The inky-haired man rushed over to the door and thoughtlessly swung it open with a huge grin present on his face, but little did he know that the grin would disappear in a split second.

What was he expecting? Did he honestly think that there was Midorima behind the door? How pathetic he felt. Never before had Takao had his head up in the clouds like that.

At his porch stood two of his friends; Kise and Izuki. Although Takao was pleasurably surprised by Kise's presence, Izuki did not appeal to him as much, especially with a sleeping bag in his hands.

"Hey! We thought you'd feel lonely while Midorima's gone." Izuki gave Takao one of his toothy smiles. Kise waved at him wordlessly, holding a pack of beer up.

"What are you getting at?" Takao cocked a brow, blocking the doorway with both of his arms.

"A sleepover, obviously." Izuki enthused, removing Takao's arm from the frame of the door to enter the apartment.

"It was my idea, sorry." Kise smiled apologetically, crooking his eyebrows.

"You'd better apologize for this poor attempt of deceit, Mr. Parodist." Takao sent the blond a cold glare, closing the door as his guests walked past. Kise laughed softly, giving Izuki a conciliatory pat on the shoulder.

"Loosen up, Takaocchi. We're here to make a blast out of your gray days." Kise chimed in, letting himself jump on the couch freely like he were in the comfort of his own home.

"Pizza's on the way and I've got your favorite movie right here." Izuki stated, raising a CD case in the air.

Takao rubbed his temples repeatedly with his index and middle fingers. "How do you even know what my favorite movie is?"

"I don't, but trust me, after watching this, it will become your favorite movie!" The steel-eyed man vowed, draping his arm over Takao's shoulder.

20 minutes into the movie Takao realized that concentrating on watching the film had become a challenge. Not only was his attention lugged back and forth from the TV screen to his friends fooling around, but also the lack of news from his roommate was driving him insane.

It must have been a quarter to eleven when Kise received an alarming call from the guitarist of his band _and_ his roommate, Kasamatsu, and was urgently summoned to their studio.

Having promised not to take long, the blond disappeared through the front door, leaving Izuki and Takao in private.

_"Great, just great."_ Takao thought, irritation written over his face.

"You wanna watch another movie or..?" He asked Izuki, shooting him a questioning look.

"You've looked down on your phone at least 50 times since we arrived here." Izuki smiled sullenly, walking up to the kitchen counter where Takao had isolated himself. "The Midorima guy?"

"Shin-chan's left without saying when to expect him to return. I'm just worried." Takao brushed the boy off, averting his eyes.

"Are you his mother or something? He can take care of himself, and you need to take care of yourself too." Izuki remarked, suddenly jumping in front the other male. Takao winced and took a hesitant step back, immediately crashing into the cupboards behind. The gap between the two kept shrinking until one was able to feel the other's breath on his lips.

Takao was snapped back into reality and quickly shoved Shun, his breath quickened and expression grew perplexed.

"Takao, let me get this straight." Izuki's steel-colored oculars fixed upon Takao's, making the air unbearably hot and heavy. Out of the blue, he took his phone out of his pocket and in a couple of taps and slides of his finger on the screen, he produced a picture of Midorima Shintarou.

"Here's the straight."

"You son of a---" Takao was infuriated, but Shun took his fire out faster than he could blow up.

In a tender, soothing manner, Izuki stroked the sides of Takao's face before planting a dry, yet warming kiss on his mouth. His lips carefully moved across Kazunari's, hands sliding down to his hips.

Takao was motionless and completely helpless. He was indulging in the moment and he couldn't deny it, although he wished he sincerely could. He didn't realize how his arms had wrapped around Izuki's waist, he wasn't even conscious of how utmost relaxed he was.

The kiss ended naturally, but the encounter was far from over; their gazes collided again, and so did their lips in a bolder, longer kiss. Izuki was quick to try and take it to another level. With a deft motion of his fingers, he started sliding Takao's shirt up. He could feel him, his rib cage and his soft skin with every inch of his own.

Izuki's fairy tale didn't last long. He knew exactly that it was over once he felt the lack of response from Takao. Not to be pushed away yet again, he retreated on his own, giving Takao some room to breathe.

The blue-eyed man sighed in exhaustion, pinning his stare to the tiled floor. "I just can't." His head shook and he violently broke out of Izuki's surroundings, heading into his bedroom.

Shun followed him upstairs and eventually found him spread across the whole width of his bed, tossing a basketball up in the air again and again.

"Hey, I was only trying to help you take your attention off your friend." The standing-in the doorway Izuki murmured apologetically, biting his bottom lip.

"Are you waiting for my permission to enter? Since when?" Takao joked it off, carrying on bouncing the ball.

Izuki now confidently rushed over to Takao's bed and laid right next to him, blankly looking into the white ceiling.

"I'm kind of angry at your roommate. Leaving you all frustrated and confused." Izuki pouted, crossing his arms on the back of his head.

"I'm not confused." Takao replied coldly. "I saw him in you a couple of moments ago." The palms of his hands covered his face completely as the basketball rolled away. "I really am in love with Shin-chan."

It felt like a mountain had fallen off Takao's shoulders. He felt light and true upon admitting his love to his roommate. Although it didn't make things any better..

"Then call him right now. See how he's doing." Izuki insisted, handing Takao's phone over. Heaven knows when he took it.

"It's easier said than done. Plus, Shin-chan's a goody two shoes, he goes to sleep at midnight." While Takao was blabbering away, Izuki was sneakily looking Midorima's number up in Takao's phone, intending to press 'call' button and shove the handset in his friend's hands, and that's exactly what he did.

Takao tried to fight back, but no sooner had he laid hands on his own mobile than the call went through and Midorima's voice could be heard from the other line.

"Hello?" Takao stuttered whilst kicking Izuki revengefully.

"What is it?" Midorima's monotonous voice rang through, sounding like a long-missed, splendid melody to Kazunari.

The boy started nervously rubbing the bridge of his nose. His tone grew calmer and so did he. "You never said when you'd be coming back, so uncool." He laughed, sitting up on his bed. He started sliding his hands across the bed sheets, swinging his legs off the edge of the bed. He was restless.

"Well, as far as I can remember, we didn't have the friendliest of goodbyes."

"Which is a shame." Takao added quickly, shutting his eyes. "Shin-chan, how did the reunion with your family go?"

"Tch.." Midorima clicked his tongue, hushing for a couple of seconds. "They want me to stay for longer so they can see how it affects her health."

"Firstly, that's fucking stupid. And then what? You'll have to stay forever if she'll get better?" Takao grumbled, his mouth shaping a scowl.

A sigh could be heard from Midorima's side. "Until she recovers fully."

"Everyone knows she'll never recover fully. She's toying with you, Shin-chan!" Takao outraged, raising his voice.

"Takao, I am at fault, I'm trying to figure things out and it'd be great if you didn't interfere."

"How can I not?! And how are _you_ at fault? She got crippled in an accident. The word _accident_ means that nobody was at fault!" Takao retorted, breaking a sweat from a conversation over the phone.

"It was not an accident!" Midorima shouted, about to spill everything out. "I was the one who lent her that god damn car, although I knew it was barely in a driving condition!"

"Shin-chan.. Let's just cool down for now. I'll call you tomorrow." Takao said hurriedly and ended the call. He put his phone aside, exhaling wearily. "It's not Shin-chan's fault she's a shitty driver, for fuck's sake!" He burst out, scaring Izuki to the core.

Startled, Shun nearly toppled off the bed. He gave Takao a bewildered look, wondering if it was okay to ask about the talk the two had just had.

"Izuki, can we not talk about this?"

~~

Midorima sighed again into his huge, fluffy scarf and shoved his phone in his pocket. It was past his usual bedtime, but that night sleep wouldn't come to him.

"Takao's lucky." He mumbled, watching vapour escape his lips and fade into the thin air.

Takao had always been getting along with his sister.

~~

"He's trying to tell me he's involved and deserves to be his sister's slave for the rest of her life. Great." Takao grumbled, squeezing his face into the pillow.

"Bullshit one'o'one!" Izuki cheered whilst nodding his head, although he had no clue what was really going on.

"Alright, look at this situation." Takao set up, about to spill the beans.

Izuki got excited for the story time, his ears twitching.

"So Midorima's sister is one of those prodigies, the aspiring doctor with the sun shining out of her ass and stuff. So one day she's running late to the campus because of many nerdy reasons and she borrows Shin-chan's car, which is as old as the mother earth and in a pitiful condition, most likely unsafe for driving in the snow. Shin-chan says she probably shouldn't take the car, but she insists she's in a hurry and drives it anyway. The tire slips on the road, the car clashes into another one and turns over. Midorima's sister is in coma for a month and wakes up completely crippled. Has to be bedridden for the rest of her life. Whose fault is it?"

Izuki stared dumbfounded for a couple of minutes before he finally uttered:

"Could have been the other driver's---"

"But not Shin-chan's, right?!" Takao's eyes lit up.

"If he warned her.. I guess it's not." Izuki scratched the back of his head.

"It was an _accident_ , Izuki. Nobody's at fault and even if there is, then it's more that bitch than Shin-chan."

"Wow, don't talk like that of crippled people."

"She's not your regular cripple, Izuki. She's bitter and petty, she lost her bright future and is now trying to rid Shin-chan of his own, that's why she blames him in what happened and claims that she'll only live if he's by her side and looking after her. He had to go see her because she threatened to stop receiving treatment unless he came."

"Wow.. that's.. crazy." Izuki coughed up, feeling a vertigo mess with his head.

Takao sighed in defeat and dropped back onto the bed.

"You won't understand.. The thought of my best friend being a slave to his sister instead of pursuing his own dreams makes me feel sick in the stomach."

"I know, I'm sorry." Izuki muttered, gently clapping on Takao's back. "But I bet that a bigger part of you just wants to have him around."

Takao scowled into the pillow case and tried to knee the other boy.

When Kise returned, he was surprised to find his pals getting along better than they did when he left.

"Did I miss something?" He asked jokingly, wiggling his eyebrows.

Takao failed to hide his embarrassment, so he blamed both the merry mood and the flush on his face on excess beer consumption.

~~

"Haha, look, your roommate's hanging out with Kise Ryouta. He even put him under a #squadgoals tag." The girl laughed, shoving her telephone screen in Midorima's face.

Shintarou furrowed his eyebrows crossly, pushing his head away as he tried to continue reading. His eyes were pointlessly following the printed lines, barely giving him an excuse to not be bothered by his sister every minute.

Too bad, she was good at overlooking Shintarou's business.

"Good for him."

"He won't have a problem finding a new roommate." She teased nonchalantly in a stiff voice, following it with a low snicker.

Midorima bowed his head ever so slightly and gave her a momentary glance over the rim of his thick reading glasses.

The air became heavy, just like it was in the evening when other patients returned to the ward, it was the time when hospital was the most crowded.

Midorima felt a light breeze brush over the back of his neck, that's how he knew a nurse had just entered.

"Miss Midorima, your analysis have arrived." She said in a sweet tone and gave the siblings a nod.

The bedridden girl stretched her lips into a triumphant smile, intentionally grabbing Shintarou's hand, as if to insert the statement: _"You're not getting away easily"._

The green-haired male felt tense in his bones, but there was no burden upon his chest, for he had long seen it coming - the defeat.

"We'll wait for our parents to see them." The girl smiled to the nurse.

"Why are you so positive those are the good news we're about to receive?" Midorima scoffed, adjusting his sitting position.

"Because you're here with me." His sister proclaimed merrily, tilting her head to the side. "Good or bad, I want them to know first."

No. She just didn't want Shintarou to state his opinion about her 'improvement'.

_"Of course she'd improve after receiving a proper treatment that she had neglected before I visited."_

Their parents and the doctors at the hospital should have known better not to let her decide how her treatment went, but at that stage, the quality of her future life was so poor that everyone understood why'd she want to give up on it.

"She doesn't have close friends or a lover to look after her and give her those things she'll be missing out on in life.." Midorima's mother sighed wearily, running her index finger on the rim of her steaming cup of coffee.

Midorima took a sip, staring out of the window into a raging snowstorm outside. He carefully listened to the sound of glass being shaken out of the window frame by the wind, droplets of rain mixed with snow drumming against it, people's chitchatting that bounced from one wall of the hallway to another in an echo, anything but what his mother had been saying.

What are they getting at? Won't they be there for her? Isn't she pushing all the responsibility on Midorima's shoulders?

He started to realize that many of Takao's words were starting to prove to be true.

_"He doesn't know my family.. He doesn't know what happened.. He doesn't know how hard Shinako worked for what's been taken away from her.."_

"Shintarou?" His mother force-stopped the train of thought that nearly took him back home to Takao.

"I heard you." The boy muttered under his breath, bringing his cup to his mouth.

He nearly shuddered when the cooled coffee touched his lips. Had he been standing there for so long, pondering about Takao's ignorant words?

"I'm not going to stay in the hospital tonight."

"But she asked you to stay.."

"She has a very lovely group of friends that visit her a couple of times a week, I know this from a nurse. She doesn't lack attention for all I know, then why me?" He questioned, regretting bringing the subject up in the first place. It was time for his mother to become protective of her first-born.

"Don't you feel _at least_ pity?"

Midorima heard that question directly, which implied if he acknowledged he was involved and at fault more than anyone else.

"I cleaned your old room, it's ready to use. Do us all a favour and help your sister. She becomes so alive when you're around." The faint smile on his mother's face almost convinced Shintarou to stay, but it all faded away once he remembered his father's proposal to take a gap year at university.

"I'll see what I can do."

~~

The analysis had improved and nobody ever questioned it, nor was anyone surprised by it, but the merit was all on Shintarou for no apparent reason.

"Are we talking about her mental or physical health?"

"Mental and physical health are built upon each other."

"I'm aware, but I'm asking you if there's been any distinct improvement in her physical condition."

"Not yet, but we hope for future improvements--"

"I'm tired of hearing the same thing over and over again." Shintarou interrupted the doctor, slamming his fist flat on the table.

"What are you saying?!" Shinako tried to push herself up against the bed using her only functional arm.

"Help me up! Help me up!" She nearly screamed at her brother, her voice growing higher and whinier each second.

"Look me in the eyes and tell me, will she somehow start walking again if I stay here?" Midorima addressed the man clad in white standing in front of him.

"There are measures that need to be taken to extend your sister's life, sir. She refuses to continue treatment without you and there's nothing we can do about it."

At this point, Shinako started to scream and shout on top of her voice, scratching the air, grunting and crying.

"What are you saying?! Help me up, right now!"

In the end, she somehow managed to knock herself off the bed and started to tumble off of it.

As all the staff rushed to lay her back onto the bunk, Midorima made a silent escape out of the ward and dissolved into the stuffed corridor of the hospital.

He saw the documents, he was educated enough to understand that his presence did little to nothing to improve his sister's health. It was only the fear of being accused of taking one's future that held him back from returning to his ordinary life peacefully.

But maybe Takao _was_ right.

"It was an accident I couldn't have foreseen." Shintarou whispered to himself, weaving his way through the sea of people in the lobby.

He abruptly stopped at the porch, watching the automatic door slide open as the icy gushes of wind hit his front.

It was right before his eyes: the ramshackle car buried in the snow with its underneath facing the sun and Shinako's pale arm sticking out of the shattered window.

"But it was an accident I could have prevented.." Midorima took his glasses off and ran the palm of his hand over his ice-cold face, making the image in front of his eyes fade into the monotonous scenery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello darlings! I've successfully finished all entrance exams and may proudly tell you that I'll be a university student starting from October. I'm so sorry to have abandoned this story like this because I believe it's my best work so far and it's a shame I left it hanging. But fret not, I shall continue to update!  
> Enjoy reading <3


	8. Thanks for the memories

Takao started to hesitate. Should he call Midorima back, should he not?

How long has it been since they last talked, anyway?

Loneliness and apathy pooled up in the pit of his stomach in the form of a thick, grim sediment. He continued to tap the wilting mustard flower sitting in a merry, orange pot, shaking more leaves off of it.

"I don't know if it's me or time that has killed you, sorry Roy Mustard." He whispered blankly, thinking of disposing of the dying plant, but there was something about it that wouldn't allow Takao to get rid of it.

It was the plant he and Midorima got lost looking for together, it was the plant they brought home, potted, watered, it was basically their child and it hurt the teal-eyed man to let go of it.

He'd never forget the moment he gave Midorima the pot for their new plant. It was one of those few times the iron heart Shintarou showed genuine interest and gratitude. Takao priced those moments the most.

"I miss him.. But maybe it's better this way?" His voice started to break off, outgrowing into a helpless whimper as he laid his head on his forearm and wept softly.

They weren't going to be together and Takao acknowledged he had already grown too comfortable. It was time to move on, what wasn't possible with being around Midorima 24/7.

"Since when do you speak to plants?" Momo's voice echoed in the empty apartment as the lock of the front door clicked shut.

Takao whipped his head up and rushed to sweep away the tears. Panic had risen from the bottom of his mind to the point that he could actually hear a siren in his head notifying him of danger.

"M-Momo? How'd you get in?" The boy forced a smile, pushing his chair back as he scurried about the room, grasping the roots of his dark hair.

"I've been knocking repeatedly, but then discovered the door was unlocked." The pink-haired girl explained in an apologetic tone, offering Takao a faint smile. "Hey, I know it's tough for you without Midorima, I've heard that there are some complications with his family, do you want to talk about it?"

Takao was relieved to an extent, but not enough to stop the gears in his head from processing what had just happened: Momo just saw him crying over Midorima.

He sighed steadily and placed his hands on his hips, gently rocking back and forth on the heels of his feet.

"Nope, I'm fine."

A little surprised, Momo crooked an eyebrow.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I don't want to talk about it. I'm a man. I handle my problems well.. And please never tell anyone I cried about it." Takao blurted out, causing the short girl to snicker.

"No problem with that. I don't think he'll leave you hanging like this, he'll definitely continue to be your roommate and friend, alright?" Momo cheered, putting her hands together.

"Yes, of course. I just got really emotional, you know, and I totally killed his plant." Takao reasoned, scratching the back of his head.

"You probably planted it wrongly. Do you want me to try and take care of it?" Momo asked, gently poking at the leaves of the flower.

"Can you?" Takao's eyes caught a spark as he turned on his heels to face the girl.

"I'll try." Momo nodded with a smile. "By the way, there's going to be a street basketball tournament nearby. Daiki's going and he wanted to know if you'd like to come along."

"A basketball tournament?" There was a pang in Takao's heart. "It's been a while."

"Well, you really need to occupy yourself with something, if you ask me. Let me know if you're up for it." With that said, the girl picked the pot up and left, giving Takao a wave goodbye.

Although a basketball was something Takao had continued to keep in his room among his most priced possessions, he had grown undeniably rusty overtime. He couldn't spare his point guard pride for some time-killer tournament.

~~

Time passed, Momo must've gone ahead with Daiki by the time Takao made up his mind to go. He put on his sneakers and reluctantly left the apartment.

"What?" He asked himself, hearing a prominent sound of a basketball hitting the concrete, but there were no cheers of a crowd.

He swiftly turned the corner where the sound was coming from and stumbled upon a smaller court than a street one, squeezed somewhere between tall apartment blocks. There was a familiar young man dribbling the ball by himself.

Takao stood dumbfounded, his mouth gaping as his eyes locked on the raven-haired man with dark grey eyes.

The basketball bounced off the concrete and rolled towards Takao.

"Hey, pass that over."

"Good to see you too, Nijimura." Takao gave him a toothy grin and picked the ball up.

"You wanna join?"

"I'm a bit rusty." With that said, Takao raised his arms and stood on the palms of his feet slightly to toss the ball into the metal ring. The basketball circled the hoop a couple of times before going into the middle. Takao rejoiced victoriously.

"Hmph." Nijimura crossed his arms.

"I'm glad we've met after all these years, Shuzo, after all, it's you who's taught me to love basketball." Takao's smile stretched wider.

It was many, many years prior, as far as Kazunari could recall, back in his middle school days. On a court just like this, in a freezing winter afternoon, Nijimura was practicing basketball while Takao watched from afar, amazed by how easy the boy made it look.

"That'd be hypocritical of me to take the credit." Nijimura shook his head. "You just sat in the corner watching me play alone like a creep."

"That was harsh." Kazunari's face lit up from embarrassment as his lips curled inwards.

"You're just as sheepish as when we were in high school." Shuzo cracked a half-smile, shooting Takao a look in the eye.

First year of high school for Takao was the most nerve-wrecking. Dating Nijimura in secret, fearing every day that someone would notice, dig into it and ruin their high school experience. All that anxiety was in vain, for their relationship never lasted.

"So what do you do now?"

"Ugh.. I am an entertainer on social platforms." Takao coughed up.

"Please don't tell me you make those 6 second videos (RIP Vine)."

"What's wrong with that anyway?" The teal-eyed man cocked an eyebrow, giving Nijimura an offended glance.

The basketball was tossed back and forth between them until one of them would successfully steal it from the other. As Takao glanced at him, Nijimura blocked Takao and snatched the ball. They both froze. Nijimura's arm was pressed across Takao's torso and the other hand was hitting the basketball away from behind Kazunari. Once the hand was free, he moved it to Takao's chin in a split second, raising it ever so slightly. His face slowly drew nearer.

"People get adored for making fools of themselves just for the laughs. I know you have more dignity than that, Kazunari."

Takao felt all his muscles clench at once and with a confident step back, he distanced himself from the other man.

"You can't do that anymore."

Nijimura put his hands on his hips.

"I'll treat you to coffee. I've got a lot to tell." He smiled miserably. Takao hesitantly nodded and the two marched towards the nearest coffee shop.

~~

"I can't believe your father's gone. I'm so sorry." Takao's voice trembled. Tips of his fingers nervously tapped against the hot mug of coffee.

"I still can't believe it. I don't regret quitting basketball for him." Nijimura announced, staring into the distance.

"He went before I had the chance to tell him he'll never have grandchildren, but I guess that's for the better."

"So you're still in a closet?"

"It doesn't look to me that you're roaming freely out of it either." Shuzo popped a vein on his forehead, arching an eyebrow.

"I can't. If my roommate finds out.." Takao sighed heavily, stabbing his banana bread with a fork.

"Tell me about that roommate." Nijimura put the weight of his head on one hand, tilting it slightly. His grey eyes pierced right through Takao's making him shift uncomfortably.

"Hey. We're here as long time buddies with some history. No need to be so alarmed." Shuzo reassured.

"I know that. I can't help it."

Shuzo smiled.

"You know, you turned out much better than in high school." 

Takao's eyes narrowed. "Thanks, I guess." He wasn't exactly unhappy about the not so flattering compliment, but he felt the urge to say something back.

He carefully eyed the man's face and posture. He was just as handsome as before, but matured and manlier. His body was fit, he undoubtedly took a gook care of his body and hair. Even his nails looked neat.

"Like what you see?" Nijimura snapped him out of the train of thought.

"Uh.. Yes." To Takao's surprise, it was Shuzo's turn to redden. He flinched momentarily as his cheeks dusted a soft pink.

Hours flew by in the coffee shop. Recalling the past, catching up to the present. Finding pieces of each other they never knew were there.

Nijimura stretched tiredly.

"One thing that hasn't changed is that time seems to run as quickly with you." He said in a raspy voice and glanced out of window. The sun had gone down and the street lights were dimly lighting the dark street.

"Gladly I no longer have homework to forget about when we hang out." Takao murmured tiredly. He got a brief laughter in reply.

"Can I catch you tomorrow? Same place and time?" Nijimura wondered, subtly avoiding eye contact.

"Sure. My roommate's gone for a while anyway, I've been getting lonely."

Maybe  _lonely_ was taken out of context by Shuzo, but he understood it as he wanted to.

That night Takao could barely get any sleep. He was lost in thought, uncertain about his own feelings. He thought he was in love with his roommate until the day Nijimura Shuzo appeared and planted a seed of doubt in his heart. Maybe it was the unrequited love making him yearn for someone new. Someone who could answer the call of his heart.

He tossed and turned like the sea, waiting for sleep to find him.

_"We broke up because his father got sick.. We never had another reason.. We were each other's comfort, also each other's anxiety. We could have lasted till now.."_

~~

The next day Takao woke up completely exhausted. His head gave pangs of pain and body felt sore. He lazily reached for his phone to find out that it was past the time he and Nijimura met the day before.

"I'm late!" He panicked as he darted out of bed and into the bathroom. He took a quick shower, brushed his teeth right under the stream of hot water and didn't bother to have his obligatory cup of coffee.

He ran head first towards the court, begging for Shuzo to still be there. About to cut the lane, he heard the reassuring sounds of sneakers and basketballs hitting the ground.

He sprinted through the lane and finally reached the small court. Much to his distaste, he ran into two strangers playing basketball by themselves. They gave Takao confused looks, but continued to play anyway.

Kazunari gasped for air, holding onto his knees. Other than once again realizing that he's out of shape, he realized that he hadn't given Nijimura any contact information, neither did he know where to find him.

His heart sank to his stomach. He foolishly overslept the meeting that could change his grim days for the better.

"Aye, Takao." Nijimura's voice echoed in the teal-eyed man's eardrums like church bells.

He hastily turned on his hills and stretched a smile from ear to ear, still breathing heavily.

"I overslept." Takao coughed up apologetically between quickened breaths.

"I figured. We should've exchanged phone numbers instead of making it into an 80's romantic movie scene." Shuzo reasoned, scratching the back of his head.

"The court's occupied right now, so I waited elsewhere not to creep those two out."

"Valid point." Takao grinned.

The fact stayed: the basketball court was occupied and they needed a place to go, especially since the weather wasn't working in their favour.

"Should we head to the coffee shop again?" Nijimura pried, sticking his hands in his pockets.

"Let's go to my apartment instead. We will have to wait neither for a line nor for a table there." Takao suggested nonchalantly.

Nijimura raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "Sure."

Once they arrived, Shuzo was pleasantly surprised by the vast space Takao had acquired. He hung his coat by the door and followed his ex into the living room.

"Sorry, I left the house in such a hurry I didn't have any time to have breakfast."

"It's almost dinner time now, Takao." Nijimura laughed weakly.

"What would you like to have for dinner?"

"Are you going to cook for me?"

"No, duh. I'm going to use the power of the internet to order us food online."

"You can never go wrong with Chinese takeout."

"You've read my mind." Takao enunciated and plopped onto the couch with his phone in his hand.

"This apartment's really nice." Nijimura said whilst looking around.

"Yeah, but it feels like I'm about to lose it along with my roommate." Takao said anxiously looking down at his feet.

"Why's that?" Shuzo sat down closer than Takao hoped he would.

"He has some major issues with his family and might have to go back to living with them overall. He's been gone for a few days now and he doesn't care to inform me how things are settling." Kazunari muttered grimly, knitting his eyebrows together.

"And what do you think you'll do if he does move out?"

"I don't know yet. I don't want to think about it. I've grown to love this place already and it hasn't even been that long, I can't just pull a new rental out of thin air."

"Hm.." Nijimura mused and froze his eyes upon Takao. "I've actually been considering living with a roommate lately."

That caught Takao off guard. He felt heat raising from the pit of his stomach, his hair stood on its ends.

"What?" He stuttered in utter shock. What was going on?

"Isn't that what we wanted in high school? Besides," Shuzo leaned closer. "Not even my partners have ever rushed for me like you did today."

Nijimura gently put his hand on Takao's cheek and landed a long kiss on his lips.

Takao's mind went up and over the roof, he could only silently indulge in the moment as he processed the thoughts in his head.

Nijimura was right. He rushed for him today, rushed because he didn't want to find him gone, because he wanted to prolong Nijimura's stay in his life.

He relaxed into the kiss and let his heart take over when suddenly a husky voice called.

"Um.. Takao..?"

Kazunari immediately broke the kiss and jumped off the couch. His eyes wide open and heart racing.

"Oookay. I guess I'll be going." Nijimura said calmly. He walked to the exit and slipped his coat on. "Call me." He waved as he shut the door behind him.

~~

The two sat at the table in silence for a while.

"So, when were you going to tell me?" Midorima asked in a strong voice.

"I wasn't going to tell you." Takao admitted.

"And keep bringing boys over when I'm gone?" There was a certain drop of anger in his voice.

Takao looked at his face. Midorima was ablaze: arms crossed over his ches, eyebrows arched and mouth forming a deep scowl.

"I'm not like that and you know it." Takao objected.

"I don't know what I know about you anymore. Seems like you've been hiding something quiet important."

"Oh so you complain about  _me_ being secretive when certainly you haven't been all open to me either!"

Midorima sighed heavily.

"We talked face to face, heart to heart like adult siblings would. It wasn't pretty at all, but I convinced her to continue her treatment without me."

"That's where you're all full of crap. There's no way the doctors would stop treating her because she didn't want to." Takao brought up, irritating Midorima even more.

"There's something called organ donation, Takao. And so far she's a very healthy candidate for donating heart, lungs, kidneys, liver."

Takao huffed and sank into the couch.

"So.. You're going to stay, right?"

"Of course I am going to stay."

Takao sighed in relief and smiled. Although  he knew it was far from being over with Midorima's sister. They'd hear from her again any time.

The second he saw Mirodima his feelings had turned inside out again. He couldn't forget him, not yet and he could never replace the friend Midorima had been all those years.

Out of the blue, Momoi breached the moment, overlooking her neighbour's privacy once again as she merrily let herself in with the renewed potted mustard flower in her hands.

"Welcome back Midorin!" She announced, stretching her arms out to him. "You had planted it wrong and it started to wilt ahead of its time. I fixed it for you."

"That's very nice of you, Momoi, although I don't believe I made a miscalculation when planting the flower." Midorima pushed his gassed up the bridge of his nose, then gently took the flower pot from Momoi's hands.

The pink-haired girl laughed. "You're welcome."

"Thank you so much, Momoi." Takao grinned as he watched the girl go back to her apartment.

The silence lingered longer between the two roommates.

"Sorry, Takao." Shintaro spoke up.

"What for?" Takao nearly gasped.

"I actually knew you were ..of not traditional orientation, I just don't understand why you wouldn't want to share that information with me after so many years."

"If being 'different' teaches you something, it's that you can lose family members and close friends because of it. I thought you'd feel uneasy around me if I told you." Takao explained, playing with his fingers.

"Wait, how did you know anyway?!" He asked loudly.

"I'm not stupid, Takao." That was an underwhelming response, but Takao took it. He was happy he didn't have to deal with bad consequences.

"Who was that guy, your boyfriend?" Midorima wondered.

Takao flashed red. "NO. Nope, not at all." He uttered.

That's the most talkative and nosey Midorima's ever been.

Why? Did he care?

"Okay, whatever." The green-haired man said and headed to his bedroom to unpack.

Maybe he didn't care.

A few minutes ago Takao was about to throw up from nervousness, but now he was at ease and even happy because Midorima was back and he was there to stay.

Suddenly the bell rang.

"Is it Momoi again?"

"She doesn't know what a doorbell is. I hope you're hungry for some Chinese food."

~~

Nijimura hadn't left Takao's thoughts yet. He was at an inner conflict with his nostalgic feelings towards Shuzo. The grey-eyed man still felt like warmth of home and unlike Midorima, he welcomed Takao into a romantic life. They could take off where they last left, but there would always be a doubt in Takao's mind.

He knew it would be unfaithful to be with Nijimura when he still had smoldering feelings for Midorima.

"You deserve better than this, Shuzo." Takao whispered under his breath.

He went to Izuki's blog to take his mind off of the whole situation. Izuki's tunnel was full of colourful edits, memes and news about YouTube celebrities including himself. Takao was quite surprised by a couple of sexual art and jokes about him that he found on Izuki's blog.

But later he found something more alarming.

There was a picture of Izuki walking from the gym, in front of him one and easily tell Takao's and Kise's backs. The caption read:

_"Guess who I'm hanging out with! Reblog this post and I'll randomly choose a person who will be able to ask them anything through me! Only one question for only one winner! You can reblog multiple times for more chances to win. No fake blogs for contests allowed, I'll check!"_

"To ask us anything through him? For reblogs? What the hell?" Takao outraged, going deeper into Izuki's blog to find more dirt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been so long and I've tried so many times to continue the story, but it just wouldn't come to me. I hope the few reader that may have stuck with the story enjoy the chapter anyway. Feel free to flame me for being gone for so long, I deserve it :D Have a great day~ <3

**Author's Note:**

> This fan fiction is strongly influenced and inspired by some of my favourite YouTube channels, such as danisnotonfire, AmazingPhil, ThatcherJoe, diCasp, Tyler Oakley, GFvsBF (did I swap these?) and many more.
> 
> This cover proudly displays my work on Wattpad.com (P.s. I do NOT own the art used in it) http://i.imgur.com/q4LJUAs.jpg?1


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